Paddy Buffer Zone for Elephants Helps Reduce Conflict with Humans in a Remote Assam Village

Thanks to Hati Bandhu, friends of elephants, the tuskers are confining themselves to grazing in paddy buffer zones and not raiding crops in Assam village.

Guwahati: Saraswati Teronpi has resumed paddy cultivation only recently. A resident of Hatikhuli Ronghang village in central Assam had left paddy cultivation decades back. However, this year the 40-year old Karbi woman planted paddy in about ten bighas of land and she has just harvested a bumper crop last week.

"I am so happy to see the harvest this time. We have stopped paddy cultivation due to the elephant menace decades back. Every year the elephant herds used to raid our paddy field and destroy paddy. But thanks to the efforts of Hati Bandhu (meaning friends of elephant) who had taken up this initiative of growing paddy for the elephants in the buffer zone that separates our village from the forest, said Saraswati.

A marginal farmers, Saraswati said that due to this initiative, their paddy fields are safe and elephants no longer raid our paddy fields. She plans to keep some of the paddy for consumption while she will sell the rest.

About 60 other families in the village have also been benefited due to this novel initiative of the NGO Hati Bandhu. It is for their efforts that many farmers who had left paddy cultivation are not happily harvesting the paddy for the last few years.

The happiness seems to be spreading in other areas too. Pradip Kawa (65) of Balijuri village located adjacent to Hatikhuli Ronghang village also happily harvested his paddy field.

"After a long time I have seen such yield. We are traditional farmers and have been cultivating paddy for generations. However, since the 1980s we are facing the elephant menace. Herds of wild elephants used to come to our areas and destroy the paddy regularly. At times there are over 60 elephants in one herd and it was difficult to drive them away. They destroy our paddy and leave," said Kawa, who hails from Adivasi community.

Kawa, however, said that things started improving since 2018 when the Hati bandhu asked them to help in cultivating paddy for the elephants, which initially sounded like an awkward idea to them. While some people helped them, most of the villagers kept away but gradually we saw that the elephants used to graze on the paddy cultivated for them in the specified zone and did not raid our fields, Kawa said.

"Since then gradually everyone started supporting them. We all joined hands in cultivating paddy for the elephants in 200 bighas of land located on the fringe area of our village. The elephant herd comes grazing there and does not venture inside the village where our paddy fields are located," said Kawa.

Basically a community led innovative initiative, the effort proved to have come handy in reducing the human-elephant conflicts in the area too. Locals like Kawa and Teronpi said that earlier at least two to three persons used to be killed during elephant raids, which is reduced now. "In the last five years no one died due to elephants in our village," said Kawa.

Human elephant conflicts are still a major concern in Assam - which used to cost human lives as well as that of the elephants.

While the human elephant conflicts have been on the rise across India the situation is worsening in Assam. According to the statistics available with the Assam government, at least 70 humans and 80 elephants die every year due to these conflicts. Assam Environment and Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary had last year informed the State legislative Assembly that at least 70 humans and 80 elephants die every year due to conflicts across Assam and that the government has to pay to the tune of Rs. 9 crore every year as compensation for damage caused by the elephants.

A treat for elephants by Hati Bandhu

"I have been working as a rescuer of distressed wildlife for a long time. We have observed that most of the time the conflict between the humans and elephants took place during the harvesting season. Rest of the year, there is no conflict. The tribal villages here are located close to elephant corridors. So we have decided to unite the villagers and grow paddy for the elephants in the government land that falls between the human habitation and the forest," said Founder of Hati Bandhu, Binod Dulu Bora.

Bora, a resident of Nagaon district, further said that there were approximately 200 bighas of land and they decided to grow paddy for the elephants there so that they don't feel the need to raid paddy fields in the village.

Supported by Guwahati based philanthropist Pradip Bhuyan, the project materialized in 2018 and during the harvesting season they witnessed the change in elephant behaviour. The elephants restricted themselves to the paddy grown for them and did not raid the paddy fields in the villages.

"The elephant has a very strong memory. They remember their corridors well. The smell of paddy attracts them and that is the reason they raid paddy fields of the villagers. But when they got the paddy fields near them and they could graze upon them without disturbances, they did not venture into the paddy fields of villagers," said Bora who has been working in the area for the last six years.

Bora said that they have also planted napier grass and other plants like elephant apple and bamboo which are used by elephants as food in the entire area. "The villagers told us that the conflict has reduced to a substantial level," Bora said.

What the experts say

"Assam has about 5,719 elephants in the wild as per the elephant census conducted in 2017. The elephants need about 200 kgs of food and 180 litres of water on an average every day. While there is habitat loss and depletion of forest cover that forces the animals to come out in search of food, the conflict also often takes place when the elephant movement corridors are blocked due to developmental works," said Hiten Baishya, Deputy Head of the Elephant Research and Conservation Division of Aaranyak, a prominent wildlife organization in Assam.

Baishya said that scarcity of water and food forces the elephants to come to human habitation "The elephants are attracted towards paddy and they can smell paddy from a distance of over one km. So attraction towards crop and other food are the major cause and apart from that lack of awareness about elephant behaviour, disturbance caused by sudden human encounter with elephant, lethal live wire fencing, unplanned development activity and linear infrastructure (railway, highway, powerline etc) and inefficient mitigation measure contribute to the number of casualties on both sides," he said.

"Why do they raid during harvesting season? During this period of time elephants get attracted towards paddy which is easily available and more nutritious alternative food. Paddy and other crops are much more tasty and nutritious than the wild grass. Elephants due to their tremendous memory and smelling capacity know about the paddy harvesting season. They can smell paddy from more than a kilometre and hence the raids take place during this particular season, leading to the conflict," said Baishya.

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