Jhapa farmers adapting to elephant threat

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By Bishnu Pokharel,Damak, May 24: Farmers in Jhapa are increasingly embracing alternative farming after elephants started causing huge damages to crops in Mechinagar of the district.

The Mechinagar Municipality has also shown interest in introducing a plan through the ward office to encourage alternative farming with an insurance scheme.

Arjun Karki, Ward Chairman of Mechinagar Municipality-4, said that a discussion was held with farmers affected by elephants in the Mechi River bank area regarding alternative farming and that farmers were attracted to it.

Mechinagar Municipality-4 Bahundangi has borne the brunt of elephant rampage. 

He said that they could shift to water farming from soil farming. There have been many suggestions that ducks and fish can be reared, Karki added.

He said that it will also help agriculture tourism.

Karki said that discussions have been held to make a single pond covering about 200 bighas of land on the Mechi river bank and to make it a tourist destination alongside rearing ducks commercially.

He informed that the ward office will discuss the issue in the Municipal Assembly meeting and the work will also be started.

After the elephants caused a lot of damage to the crops in Bahundangi, tea cultivation has also been expanded.

Making a pond stops wells, tube wells and rivers from drying up, so it will also help the environment, Karki said.

The idea is that the elephant-affected area can be made a model village by raising the living standards of farmers, he said.

Various initiatives are being taken here to manage the human-elephant conflict and to create friendly relations between locals and elephants. Elephants will stop coming once they find no food here, said Karki.

A few days ago, a team from the Fish and Wildlife Service of America observed a study showing interest in the problem of elephants in the Bahundangi area.

They also gave many suggestions on elephant-friendly behavior, observing the electric fencing and dam, among other measures adopted for taming elephants.

According to Rabin Koirala, the former mayor of Mechinagar Municipality and former Constituent Assembly Member, elephants are the biggest problem in Mechinagar.

He said that it is necessary to come up with these kinds of ideas in order to connect elephants with tourism rather than hostile behaviour.

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