Areca nut growers in Samdrup Jongkhar’s Tsangchhutham village are facing a distressing new challenge. Their juvenile areca nut trees are falling prey to the destructive rampage of wild boars. Villagers say the boars have destroyed only paddies and maize fields before, but now the hungry creatures have started ravaging the valuable areca nut trees. Areca nut is a major cash crop for many villagers in the gewog.
Bishnu Maya Tiwari watched in despair as twenty of her young areca nut trees were destroyed overnight by the marauding wild boars recently.
She had dedicated three years of time and effort to nurture those trees, and all her hard work went in vain in just one night.
“Wild boars damage the areca nut trees like someone chopped them off. They break it from the lower part of the tree. Now it is destroyed and it is not possible to replant it. Wild boars usually do not attack areca nut trees but now they destroy paddy as well as areca nut trees,” said Bishnu Maya Tiwari, a farmer.
“From the sale of areca nuts, we used to run our family, but now wild boars are destroying the trees. We do not have other alternatives to make money here. I think the wildlife conflict will never end. Wild boar nuisance is a never-ending problem,” said Sanja Maya, another farmer.
“I depend on selling areca nuts for my livelihood but wild boars are not letting the trees grow well. They do not destroy mature trees and only damage the small ones,” said Khageswari Subdy, who is also a farmer.
As dusk falls, villagers have to keep guard over their crops and areca nut trees carrying torchlights. Some bang tins and sheets to scare away the animals. This has become a nightly routine for the farmers. More than 1000 juvenile areca nut trees have been damaged this year in Tshangchhutham according to the village Tshogpa.
“Every night we have to stay in the fields guarding our crops. If we don’t, wild boars destroy them within a few minutes. If solar fencing is provided it will solve the problem and we will not have to guard our crops during the night,” said Ram Bahadur Tiwari, a farmer.
However, help is on the way. Recognising the severity of the issue, both the Phuentshogthang Gewog Administration and the Gewog Agriculture Office are planning to provide solar electric fencing.
The gewog agriculture extension officer said that a budget of Nu 650,000 has been allocated to install solar fencing at Tshangchhutham village. Works are expected to begin soon.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Kipchu
