Wild boar menace ravages crops in Pudur region

Farmers from Pudur block in Thoothukudi district have raised concerns about the unabated destruction of their crops, especially yam and maize, by wild boars.

As the agriculture lands in Pudur block fall under rainfed region, the farmers entirely depend on the northeast monsoon, though irrigation wells have been enabled in some of the villages. Mostly crops such as maize, black gram, green gram, shallots, chilli, coriander, yam, sweet potato were cultivated in these drylands.

For the past few years, extreme rainfall and pest infestation had affected the produce in the region. Adding to the hardship, wild boar menace has increasingly affected the farmers, as they are destroying crops like maize, yam for food.

Karuppasamy, a farmer from Reguramapuram, said the wild boars had entirely destroyed his yam plantation in the past three days. “I spent ₹1 lakh on the plantation. But due to attack by wild boars, particularly in the initial stage, resulted in the loss of nearly ₹50,000.”

In the same land where he sowed maize last year, the crop was also destroyed by boars, he added..

Meanwhile, Gopalsami from Muthalapuram said wild boars entering farms and completely destroying them had become a regular feature. “When I enquired about the subsidy for solar fencing, the agriculture department officials said it is available only for hilly areas.”

A. Varadharajan, an activist from the region, said that laws to control wild pigs lay dormant in files. It was out of desperation that farmers hunted wild boars hiding near water bodies, but the problem remained uncontrolled.

M. Ilayaraja, District Forest Officer, Thoothukudi, who assumed charge on Monday, said samples from a pig that died accidentally near Kovilpatti had been sent to Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation to confirm if it was wild or feral. The department was also planning to conduct village-level meetings on the issue and further action would be taken after the test results.