If the growing frequency of erratic weather conditions, unavailability of fertiliser and paucity of workforce were not enough, farmers in the country report being faced with the challenge of saving their hard-grown produce from wild animals. As the Post reported on Thursday, farmers in Salyan have had to build a temporary pavilion in the middle of the field to keep a vigil as wild animals raid and destroy their ready-to-harvest crops. Farmers resort to beating corrugated zinc sheets to produce noise to scare the animals away. Farmers having to struggle with the crop raiders are not limited to Salyan though; it is a pan-national problem that continues to trouble the growers even as the state fails to provide adequate security and compensation for the loss.

Farmers across the country report having lost their hard-earned crops when monkey troops raid their farms, as they can wipe clean a field of maize within hours if they are not spotted and chased away in time. As the National Wildlife Damage Relief Guideline (2069) does not include crop raids by monkeys among the damage eligible for compensation, farmers are left with little grain at the end of the harvest season. The authorities fail to recognise the magnitude of the problem resulting from crop raids by monkeys. What's more, they fail to provide sustainable solutions to crop raids by monkeys. Although the guideline provides compensation for crop damage caused by elephants, rhinos, wild boars and wild buffalos, farmers complain that the compensation is too little, too late, and often not available due to bureaucratic red tape and lack of awareness among the sufferers.

Crop is hardly the only casualty of the raids by wild animals. Each year, dozens of people lose life and limb as wild animals foray into human settlements in search of food. Between April 13, 2020 and April 13, 2021, as many as 37 people were killed and 192 injured in animal attacks, and property worth Rs7.5 million was lost. The guideline provides for compensation when humans are killed or injured by wild animals, but victims have to wait endlessly to receive their payment. As the Post reported in March, residents of various settlements in Kalimati Rural Municipality in Salyan district have started leaving their villages owing to the security challenge posed by wild animals. The threat to life posed by wild animals in buffer zones between national parks and human settlements is nothing new.

There is no one-time solution to the threat to crops and lives posed by wild animal raids. Behavioural adaptability among animals often makes permanent solutions to human-wildlife conflict a chimera. However, a coordinated effort by the authorities and local people alike may lead to the formulation of indigenous ideas that provide some relief. There is also a need to revise the relief guideline to include raids by animals of various other species as well. If farmers across the country report being harassed by monkeys on a daily basis, leading to a significant amount of damage to their crops, the authorities cannot just ignore their plight because the relief guideline does not list damage caused by certain animals as being eligible for compensation.