Farmers in the district took out a Collectorate march here on Tuesday demanding immediate solution to the wild boar menace in Naranganam grama panchayat.
John Tomas, Elanthoor block panchayat member, inaugurated the march and T.A.Thomas, senior farmer, presided over a public meeting, held later.
Mr. Thomas said the farm sector in Naranganam grama panchayat, which used to generate produces worth ₹40 crore a year, was facing a serious crisis due to the wild boar menace.
He said they would be forced to stop farming completely if there was no solution to the problem.
The Janakeeya Karshaka Samrakshana Samiti too has decided to launch an indefinite agitation against the official indifference towards the wild animal attacks on the farmlands in the tracts bordering the forests in the district.
Wild boars have become a threat to farming and humans as well in the rural areas of Thumpamon, Ayroor, Mylapra, Naranganam, and Kulanada.
It has been a cause of worry in the human habitation adjoining the forests in Konni and Ranni taluks too.
The samiti alleged that the authorities had miserably failed to implement government orders to protect the farmers and farmlands from wild animal menace.
Pathanamthitta, with a 52.6% forest cover, has been witnessing frequent man-animal conflicts, especially along the forest fringes.
Wild elephants, boars, monkeys, etc, straying into human habitation and destroying crops on farmlands in the forest fringes of Chittar, Seethathode, Manpilavu, Neelipilavu, Perinad, Pambavalley, Placherry, Makkappuzha, Pallippady, and Gavi is quite common these days, says Anandan Chittar, a retired Forest Department employee and socio-environmental activist.
