Amid farm losses and fragmented habitats, Kerala struggles to mitigate human-wildlife conflict

“Wild animals have replaced the role of landlords, who were previously the main source of conflict for farmers,” says Thomas K D, a 69-year-old cashew farmer whose crop yield has shrunk to two quintals from the seven before. Sitting at his cashew plantation with banners protesting against official apathy, he blames his losses on monkey attacks.

Thomas’s complaint is only a sign of the quiet disquiet in areas bordering the Kottiyoor wildlife sanctuary, in the foothills of the lush Western Ghats, in Kerala’s Kannur district. He is among the over 20,000 residents in Kottiyoor village whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on agriculture. Most of the population in Kottiyoor farms crops such as bananas, rubber, dry copra, pepper, arecanut, and cashew.

Suffering losses and mounting debt due to wildlife attacks, more than 500 have also opted for the forest department’s scheme for voluntary relocation in Kannur district. 

While wildlife attacks have not claimed many lives in Kottiyoor, the human-wildlife conflict has been in the news this week with the United Democratic Front staging a walkout in the Kerala assembly. The opposition alleged that there have been 640 casualties since 2018 in the state and the forest department lacks a feasible plan to mitigate the problem.

Nearly 30 percent of Kerala’s geographical area is forested, and there are several densely populated human settlements near protected forests, with many farm lands in proximity of wild habitats.

Meanwhile, responding to the opposition’s attack, forest minister A K Saseendran said the state “cannot act alone”. He said the government has constructed solar fences and moats around vulnerable areas. “The forest department was taking aggressive measures to minimise damages as more than 2,000 wild boars were shot. It was inappropriate to point fingers at the government because it was working hard to eliminate the threat.” 

But not much has changed in Kottiyoor, where the Bavali river babbles across the border between the forest and human settlements.

“I used to go for rubber tapping at around 4 am, but over the past year, I had to go at 5.30 am to avoid wild boars inside the plantations," says Biju, a 50-year-old farmer. He says this has impacted production as morning taps are preferable for latex collection. “Today, it is best to avoid planting anything, particularly rubber, as its price is still the same as it was 15 years ago. Wild boars have made it even harder in this situation.”

It has affected the whole family. Biju’s wife Jancy, who used to look after the couple’s cattle shed and also work with a self-help group, hardly gets the time to balance daily chores as she has “no choice “but to go together in order to finish tapping before at least 7 am”. “Whenever we go early in the morning to our fields, the wild pigs can be seen moving in a group. The small amount of tapioca in the fields is often uprooted,” says the 47-year-old.

According to the 2011 Census, of the 97.58 sq km area in Kottiyoor, 63.55 sq km is forest area and the remaining 32.52 sq km is agricultural land. The Kottiyoor wildlife sanctuary shares its boundaries with the Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka, and the Wayanad and Aralam wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala. 

Tomy P J, a banana and coconut farmer, says his crops have been “completely destroyed” by monkeys over the last four months. Along with his brother Joy, he also grows cashew on 10-acre land. “The lack of agricultural produce inside the forest is the reason why animals come here. We tried different methods to drive them away, such as toy snakes, beehives and dry fish, but they still remain,” says Joy.

Jils Mekkal, a local activist who is part of farm unions and a retired employee of the Kottiyoor service cooperative bank, comes from a family of farmers. “I have constantly interacted with farmers during my career. Farmers come to the bank for loans for agriculture and when their crop fails due to wildlife attacks or natural calamities, they find it extremely hard to repay the loans.” 

The government has put in place a mechanism to grant compensation. But only those who have insured their crops under the scheme are eligible to apply. The process is multilayered: the losses must first be reported with visual evidence and an application through the agriculture information management system, and officials will subsequently assess the damage and submit a report.

Kottiyoor has seen the filing of only 14 such applications since April last year, including 11 pertaining to natural disasters.

However, Thomas says this is because the compensation is not proportional to market rates. “If at all I seek for crop failure compensation, I scarcely get 165 rupee per cashew tree, which is nothing near proportional to the labour of a farmer and yield market.”

Principal Agricultural Officer Shylaja C V says, “Most of these facilities are utilised through online government portals…the agriculture department makes the appropriate decisions and provides farmers with insurance claims…in the upcoming budget, the administration has plans to increase funding for the agricultural sector in response to farmer concerns about compensation. While wildlife attacks have always been a problem, these are currently causing more alarm in Kerala.”

Jils claims farmers in the locality are yet to get accustomed to online application processes and prefer to physically visit Akshaya offices – service centres for government facilities. “Working in the field earns a farmer more money than the time spent in running from pillar to post to file an application.”

However, Divisional Forest Officer P Karthick says that “we should first grasp the issue before looking for a solution”. “Since the pattern of cropping has changed, this is the main reason why monkeys enter the area. There are cashews, but there are also new crops that are attractive to wildlife. The inappropriate disposal of biowaste is another major factor, which draws not only monkeys but also other wild animals. They might multiply once there is an abundance of food. Instead of assumptions, such as enclosing animals in cages will solve the problem, we must adopt a comprehensive approach.”

Karthick says there is a problem but “it’s not to be looked at in a unidimensional way”. He also points to the fragmentation of wildlife. “Elephants were long-range animals, but they are currently confined to small patches of forest due to fragmentation. Their elephant pathways are affected.”

In July 2020, the forest department installed palmyra biofencing on the forest periphery, but an RTI filed later that year by Jils allegedly revealed that only 222 palmyra plants survived of the 4,000 that were planted. Jils says he tried to raise the issue with the authorities but the area lacks proper fencing even today.

DFO Karthick says, “Fencing is successful for megafauna; elephants are stopped. You can’t restrict whole wildlife with fencing. Sometimes keeping track of and the maintenance of already implemented projects is hard, since we are running behind multiple projects at the same time.”

Santhosh Kumar, a wildlife officer who was not part of the biofencing project, said alternative research is being carried out now “to find a solution because the existing fencing wouldn't keep out other wild creatures".

According to Dr Jisha M S, director of the National Institute of Plant Science Technology at M G University, “climatic conditions could be a significant factor”. “Wildlife attack during its developing period is another possibility. These trees typically don’t require much maintenance although growing stage follow-ups are necessary.”

About the possibility of changing crop patterns in the area, DFO Karthick says, “Convincing people is really tough on the ground because what we say might not be understood correctly. especially in light of all the negative publicity the forest department has received. They are now becoming more cognisant of the fact that crop patterns are changing everywhere. Banana and cashew trees were not traditionally cultivated in these areas.”