19 January 2023 10:07 am Views - 371
Toque macaques, monkeys, and giant squirrels had destroyed nearly 200 million coconuts by the end of last year, the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agricultural Research and Training Institute said.
The information was revealed following a study conducted by the institute.
“During the past six months, from January to June of 2022, coconut plantations have suffered the most crop damage due
to wildlife.
“Accordingly, 93 million coconuts had been destroyed by Toque macaques, monkeys, and giant squirrels during the first half of last year. By the end of 2022, the situation worsened to 200 million coconuts,” the study found out.
According to the report issued on the conflict between farmers and wild animals, 200 agricultural development areas were damaged by Toque macaques, 180 agricultural development areas were damaged by giant squirrels, and 50 areas were damaged by monkeys.
“In total, 57,815 hectares of coconut cultivation were destroyed across 21 districts. The total amount of land planted with coconuts in those areas is 275,540 hectares. However, 21 per cent of the harvest was damaged,” the study said.
“Wild animals destroy between 1600 and 2000 coconuts per cultivated hectare, depending on the number of damaged coconuts,” it said.
According to the Coconut Research Institute, the total area under coconut cultivation in the country is 440,640 hectares. 13.1 per cent of the coconuts has been eaten and destroyed by these animals.
Kurunegala, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kegalle, and Moneragala take the lead in the districts where wild animals have caused the most damage to coconut cultivation in the first six months of 2022. The area of crop damage in the Kurunegala District is 24,038 hectares.
The Agriculture Ministry had appointed a committee headed by the Secretaries of the two Ministries and the Director-Generals of Wildlife and Forest Conservation for obtaining comments and suggestions from stakeholders to reduce the damage caused to crops by wild animals, an official said.
The Ministry of Agriculture has also started extensive discussions with the participation of all parties regarding the measures to be taken to prevent crop damage by wild animals.