Close to 200 coconut trees and crops on several acres raised by farmers in the foothills of Western Ghats here had been destroyed by elephants and other wild animals in the last one year alone, said farmers from the Kadayam block on Thursday.
Speaking at the monthly grievance meeting through the video conferencing facility arranged at the respective agriculture offices, they said that the government should help them by setting up solar fence and ensure that the crops were saved. Many farmers were under constant threat to their lives as well due to movement of wild animals here.
Collector G. S. Sameeran said the administration would examine the modalities and take steps to protect the crops.
The government had given incentives only to a few farmers for raising paddy crops this pisanam season in the region. The Collector should intervene and get the incentive of ₹5,000 each to all farmers who had raised paddy on 4200 hectares with the help of machines under the System Rice Intensification method.
Farmers from Karuthapillaiyur said that low lying HT lines posed problems in many of the fields as they could not bring in machines. The Collector should direct the TANGEDCO to study the problem and help raise the height of lines immediately.
The DPCs should be opened in many blocks especially in Mela Ambur, Sivasailam, Alwarkurichi and in Puliyarai, Vasudevanallur and Sivagiri as the harvest time was coming close. In the event of any delay, the farmers may be forced to sell at a price dictated by merchants and brokers.
The Collector said that he would discuss the issue with officials concerned and take measures at the earliest. He informed that steps had taken to recover arrears from Dharani Sugars from 2018-19 for the sugarcane growers.
