In view of the increasing incidents of elephants destroying crops inside the Aralam Farms bordering the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in the district, the authorities have decided to increase the area for cultivation of turmeric and other alternative crops.
The decision was taken after the successful cultivation of turmeric in 25 acres by Aralam Farming Corporation Limited, which was started in May last year. Corporation’s Managing Director Bimal Ghosh said that turmeric is in harvesting stage and the corporation already has turmeric takers.
He said that the Regional Agro-Industrial Development Co-operative Society (RAIDCO) of Kerala Limited had approached the corporation to get the processed turmeric. He said that in view of the good marketing potential of the produce, it has been decided to increase the cultivated area.
Shri Ghosh said that the decision to grow turmeric has yielded good results. Elephants and other wild animals did not destroy the crops and the corporation was expecting a revenue of ₹60 lakh from the sale this year.
He said that the corporation is planning to expand the nurseries where coconut, arecanut, black pepper and ornamental plants will be grown. The corporation had earlier suffered heavy losses due to destruction of crops including coconut, arecanut, cashew, pepper and rubber trees. He said that in the last two years, around 8,000 coconut trees, 12 hectares of betel nut and cashew trees have been destroyed in the field by elephants.
“During the last two years, we have incurred a loss of ₹19.75 crore,” Mr. Ghosh said. The Corporation had leased coconut trees to 5 licensees for toddy collection at the rate of ₹ 425 per tree per month. About 1,200 trees were being used to collect toddy, employing 100 tappers, including 50 tribals. He said that due to the destruction of coconut trees by elephants, the revenue of the corporation has come down from ₹ 4 lakh to ₹ 1 lakh this year.
Meanwhile, tribal unions and activists have opposed the corporation’s permission to extract toddy from coconut trees and cultivate crops that attract elephants. The killing of a toddy tapper by an elephant gave rise to the issue recently. Adivasi Dalit Munetta Samiti president Sriram Koyon said the threat of elephants has increased since the government has allowed toddy extraction in the field. The elephants were attracted by the smell of toddy and they came out of the forest and tried to grab the toddy pots on top of the trees to destroy the trees in the fields.
He demanded that the government immediately cancel the license and stop tapping of toddy. The forest department has also written to the government to change the cropping pattern in the field and surrounding areas. The elephants were driven out of the forest by growing crops like cashew, pineapple, coconut and jackfruit in the field and surrounding areas. A senior forest official said this was another reason for the casualties there and the cultivation of such crops should be reconsidered.
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