Assam: Anti-elephant seasonal solar fence helps Mirza farmers reap good harvest

Kamrup (Assam) [India], August 30 (ANI): A low-cost solar fence that has protected standing crops on three hectares of crop field from depredation by wild elephants in the Mirza area in the Kamrup district of Assam has immensely boosted paddy harvest by local farmers in the last harvesting season.

The local community of Gosaihat village near Maliata reserve of Palashbari Range Forest, Mirza, installed a low-cost seasonal solar fence in November 2023 to protect the vast crop field with the technical guidance of the Aaranyak team and the collaborative support of Aaranyak and WWF. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has supported the Aaranyak initiative here.

The Aaranyak team initially trained the local community of Gosaihat on solar fence management and operation. Eventually, a low-cost community-managed solar fence was successfully installed on an experimental basis.

The fence provided very good protection to the standing crop from wild elephant herds. As a result, local farmers could harvest 90 per cent of the crop in the last season.

“Previously, when there was no solar fence, the farmers could hardly harvest anything as wild elephant herds used to devour and destroy the standing crop,” said Aaranyak official and solar fence installation expert Anjan Baruah.

The solar fence power machine was installed in the residence of Sukleswar Boro, a local farmer of Gosaihat. After harvesting the crop in the last season, the local farmers led by Boro removed the entire fence, including the solar fence machines, solar panels, etc., and stored the same decently for the next year.

As per Boro, they could protect their crops from wild elephants last season and thereby realised the utility of the seasonal solar fence. They have taken the responsibility to take care of the fence materials along with the machines and batteries.

After having a very good result in the last harvesting season, the local farmers this year have decided to install a seasonal solar fence covering a larger area, which includes crop areas earlier left unused due to the threat of elephant depredation.

In August 2024, the local farmers of Gosaihat installed the seasonal solar fence using the stored materials to protect 10 hectares of crop fields.

A group of farmers comprising Sukleswar Boro, Bonapart Boro, Milon Boro, Bhubaneswar Boro, Jiten Boro, Dipen Boro, Kamal Das, Lal Mohan Das, Bhola Das, Bhaben Das, Dimpu Thakuria, Manoj Das, etc., of Gosaihat village led the installation of one km-long low-cost seasonal solar fence using bamboo posts to protect around 10 hectares of crop fields and completed it in two days during August 20 and 22.

“This year the farmers are expecting to harvest 100% of the crop with the help of the seasonal solar fence. The farmers no longer bother about the crop damage by elephants outside the fence,” said Boro.

The farmers have left some space to facilitate the movement of wild elephants while installing the fence.

Boro said that the fence would be removed after harvesting the crop and stored properly for use in the next year, as was done last year.

Thus, the local community of Gosaihat village has adopted the low-cost community-managed seasonal solar fence to boost their agriculture income, while they have learnt to coexist with wild elephants.