Simian menace threatens Assam cash crops

Raiding of horticultural crops by monkeys has forced cropping pattern changes

Guwahati: Assam is suffering a change in cropping patterns, fall in crop productivity and facing a threat to its plans for oil palm plantations. Thanks to monkeys.

In October several residents of Bajali a town northwest of state capital Guwahati on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river, were attacked and seriously wounded by monkeys. Only now, reports are coming in that the monkeys are attacking the agricultural economy in a significant way.

Come winter and it is not just vegetable season for consumers but also farm-raiding season for groups of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulata) the red-faced monkey that is a menace across many parts of India. Only here in Assam, with a bigger population living within green cover, the impact on agriculture is much higher.

In the last few years, there is a change in cropping patterns in several pockets across Assam, on both north and south banks of the Brahmaputra. Business North East spoke to farmers and district agriculture officers in the Assam government as well as some farmers to find out facts.

“It is affecting coconut production,” said Rajat Kumar Pal, director of the Coconut Development Board regional office in Guwahati. Monkeys have been known to raid young coconut crop before maturation, removing hopes of a robust harvest.

The threat looms large for the other palm – oil palm plantations on which Assam and rest of Northeast are focusing on for poverty alleviation. Monkeys feed on young palm fruit, said to be highly nutritious.

Godrej Agrovet (65,000 ha), Patanjali Foods (60,300 ha), KE Cultivation (25,650 ha) are already contracted by the Assam government to invest in oil palm cultivation. Apparently, the monkeys may play spoilsport.

A district agriculture officer in Darrang district said there were indeed changes in cropping patters which vary from place to place in the district. Gourds and other vegetable farms are frequently raided by monkeys and in some areas, a proliferating squirrel population, say local sources.

The problem is also significant in Baksa, Chirang and Kokrajhar districts of Assam.

“Monkey problem is everywhere, and since it is a protected animal farmers can only use beating of drums or bursting firecrackers to ward off the primates,” said Pal. It could, however, financially hit some areas more than others.

A problem in Darrang impacts not just Guwahati but also vegetable markets in Nagaland, Manipur and even West Bengal. As many as 400 tonnes of vegetables are sent every season from the Besimari wholesale vegetable market to the markets in other states, according to statistics of the Assam Agriculture Marketing Board.

Tezpur resident Atanu Phukan has quit planting fruit or vegetables and opted for potatoes. “They leave out nothing except for root vegetables, leaves like spinach – everyone around has stopped planting vegetables and opted for potatoes or thorny lemon trees,” said Phukan.

Anyone living near forested areas are a victim of the gregarious macaques. With winter approaching, the forests would be short of food and monkeys would have to feed their young.

Environmentalist Mridu Paban Phukan said he has observed the problem in pockets across the state where not just farmers even laypeople with a kitchen garden suffer from the simian menace.

Only those living in the char areas are benefiting as there are no trees for the monkeys to perch upon. There is a huge population that uses grasslands and the chars to grow vegetables and by default, they are safe from the monkey menace.

Bhumi Dutta, the subdivisional officer in Bajali pointed to a need for a detailed survey. The problem seems right enough for political intervention, says another farmer.

Phukan recalled the 2016 assembly election campaign in the Bokaghat constituency of Golaghat district. In a panchayat area, voters had demanded that the vote will go to the party that stops the monkey menace in their village.

Assam’s farmers are already caught up in man-elephant conflict as paddy plantations and warehouses are often raided by herds of wild elephants.

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