Massive crop damage caused by wild animals

By Nimal Gunathilake

Wildlife destruction has caused significant damage to Sri Lanka’s agriculture, with wild boar, porcupine, and monkeys responsible for a staggering loss of 55.3 billion rupees in 2022 and 2023, says Anuradha Tennakoon, Chairman of the National Farmers’ Federation.

He said that the animals destroyed approximately 86.7 million coconuts, valued at 5.2 billion rupees, impacting 17.5% of the country’s total coconut yield, which covers 140,450 hectares. In addition to coconut damage, these animals also harmed 25% of the rice crops, 11% of maize, and 7% of vegetables.

Wild boar and monkeys alone are responsible for the destruction of 131 million kilograms of rice, 169 million kilograms of bananas, and 6.8 million kilos of maize, leading to losses of 13.2 billion, 22.1 billion, and 10.3 billion rupees respectively. Furthermore, they destroyed 59.7 million kilograms of vegetables worth 4.5 billion rupees.

The Uva Province experienced the highest damage, with 45,000 hectares affected, while other provinces including Western, Central, Southern, Eastern, and North Western also saw substantial losses. The Northern Province lost 16,000 hectares.

Tennakoon expressed concern over the growing populations of these animals and criticized the lack of intervention from authorities in managing the wildlife damage.

He warned that without modern technological solutions to control human-wildlife conflict, farmers may soon face the grim reality of abandoning their livelihoods.