Farmers worried over elephant menace in Siddapura

Farmers in the region are worried about the loss of their crops following an increase in the elephant menace.

The agriculturists said that this time, the region received bountiful rainfall which was favourable for coffee, pepper, areca and paddy.

However, the growers will not get the yield they expected, as the elephants have been destroying the crops.

Farmers in Guhya, Siddapura, Karadigodu, Nelyahudikeri, Valnuru, Tyagatturu and surrounding regions have been cultivating paddy.

This season, many have started afresh and the saplings have grown well. However, the joy of farmers was short-lived and wild elephant herds have been walking in the paddy fields, which has been resulting in the destruction of the saplings.

The farmers can't help but watch months of their hard work go in vain.

Many farmers in the region have left their paddy fields fallow.

Coffee, too, has not been spared by the elephants. The pachyderms feed on the ripe and sweet coffee berries in the plantations.

This has come as a serious blow to the coffee planters as the market for coffee has also been not very encouraging during the pandemic times.

Adding to the problem, coffee saplings are also destroyed due to the movement of elephant herds and their territorial fights.

Farmers allege that the elephants have also been spoiling coconut, plantain and areca saplings.

Elephants stray into the village in search of food and the coffee plantations become their easy targets, said the farmers.

Apart from the elephant menace, the farmers have been losing coffee and pepper crops due to rot disease in the past.

Even though there has been good rainfall this year, we are losing crops due to elephant menace, said Mundrumane Suresh, an agriculturist from Tyagattur.

Another grower from Siddapura, Keetiyanda Vivek Joyappa, said that one could imagine the fate of the plantation if a herd of 25 elephants sneaks in and feed on the crops. Growers are helpless.