A WhatsApp forward of a video has helped the farmers of the villages nearby to keep monkeys away from their farms. By following the contents in the video, the farmers have been successful in protecting their coconut crop.
The farmers said, they were suffering losses for the last two years, as they were not able to harvest even a nut because of the monkey menace. Colonies of monkeys would swarm our farms. “Now, we are following an innovative idea to check the monkey menace,” they said.
Farmers in villages like Maradoora, Hosaramanahalli, Rangaiahanakoppalu and Shanobogarahalli under Bilikere hobli said, the monkeys would enter the villages by afternoon from Arabithittu Reserve Forest and swarm the farms by evening. “They would pluck tender coconuts and drop them down. Our efforts to keep the monkeys away, by bursting firecrackers and hurling of stones failed,” they said.
Speaking to DH, Ravikumar, a villager, said, “Farmers suffered without any yield from coconut trees from the past two years.
After watching a video, on the social media, which showed the use of fish curry to keep monkeys away, I shared the video as well as the idea. Now the monkey menace is under control.”
The people are tying bottles filled with fish curry to coconut trees some 8 feet above the ground. Due to the smell of the fish curry, the monkeys are not coming to our farms. We will continue this method to protect our crop, the farmers said.