SATTARI: Farmers from Sattari continue to battle the menace of wild animals, which destroy their crops and orchards, as the forest department has failed to come up with effective measures to combat the issue. The Indian bison, wild boars and monkeys are common animals who feast on the harvest of the farmers from Sattari, the taluka which is more forested than other talukas in the State.
On Wednesday, a herd of eight to ten gaurs destroyed banana and betel nut trees at Keri which has resulted in loss of lakhs of rupees to the local farmers.
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“The Panchayat along with the forest officials had tried to come up with ways to drive away wild animals from orchards. Unfortunately, none of that made any difference to strong and stubborn animals such as gaurs,” said panch Supriya Gawas.
“The government needs to take some initiatives. As a common people, we cannot do more than just using certain equipment to drive animals away. There are various examples of wild animals also attackingthe farmers, while trying to safeguard their crops,” said panch Tanvir Pangam.
It may be recalled that Poriem MLA Deviya Rane had raised the matter during the assembly session and had suggested that the farmers use ‘solar’ compounds and equipment which create high decibel noise to shoo animals away.
