The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) being funded by the World Bank has teamed up with the Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR), to install mobile elephant electric fences or seasonal electric fences, which farmers can install at the start of their cultivation and remove and store them after the harvest. It will be implemented at a cost of Rs. 450 million.
The community-based seasonal electric fences will be very effective in safeguarding paddy cultivations from elephants. The human-elephant conflict is rampant in all the CSIAP hotspots because the cultivation in them is often threatened by wild animals, especially by wild elephants.
On behalf of the CSIAP, Department of Agrarian Department (DAD) will erect electric fencing programme and for this purpose, the DAD has issued a circular to establish a mechanism.
The fences will be entirely powered by solar energy. The project will assist farmers in protecting their crops from wild elephants that frequent the area causing heavy damage to paddy and other crops. These fences are easy to erect and the farmers will be trained by the CCR to erect them.
Fifty four fences for 441.5 km covering 1877.5 hectares of paddy fields in 34 Grama Niladhari Divisions including Moragollagama, Rambe, Ehetuwewa, Galgamuwa, Mahananneriya, Thambuththa, Ambanpola and Rajanganaya in the Kurunegala District will be protected with them. About 6,745 farmer families will be benefitted by the project.
Fifty eight fences for 191.7 km covering 1168.9 hectares of paddy fields in 13 Grama Niladhari Divisions including Wanathawilluwa, Nawagaththegama, Tabbowa and Ihalapuliyankulama in the Putttalam District will also be protected benefitting 2,763 farm families. Fences will also be set up in the North Central, Northern, Eastern, Uva and Southern Provinces as well.
The fences will be operative until the harvest is taken. The farmers can then remove them and re-erect for the next crop season. The massive human-elephant conflict has now worsened, claiming over 70 human lives and perishing 400 elephants annually. In 2019, the numbers of deaths due to the human-elephant conflict reached a record high, claiming 121 people and 405 elephants.
With this project, the CSIAP will minimise the destruction of crops by a significant percentage and also diversify crops by using abandoned farmlands. The project will be implemented under the guidance of Dr. Prithviraj Fernando and his team at CCR.
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