Even as the Kerala government installs and plans more beehive fences to curb human-animal interactions, villagers in Attappadi taluk say that a local bean crop is more effective than the fences.
In her childhood days, poverty was the biggest challenge for Nanghi, a 60-year-old farmer living at Neelikuzhi village in Attapadi taluk of Kerala. Today, it’s not poverty but a different challenge that gives her sleepless nights — human-animal interactions.
“Elephants keep roaming around our village round the clock,” said Nanghi, explaining the reason for losing sleep.
Attappadi taluk in Palakkad district, which has a large percentage of tribal population, has witnessed numerous human-animal interactions over the years. To curb these incidents, a technique using beehives is being explored.
Boxes of beehives connected with a rope are kept at a particular distance from each other. When the elephants try to enter the village, they unwittingly walk into the rope. The rope sways, causing the boxes to shake. The disturbed bees swarm out and start stinging the elephants.
The theory behind beehive fences is that the invading elephants would be frightened by the stings of the bees and flee from the spot. This was developed by Oxford University researcher Lucy King in 2008, and later tested in Kenya and Tanzania.
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Taking a cue from the African experiments, beehive fences have been erected in many villages like Neelikuzhi in Pudur panchayat, and in Agali, Pudur and Sholayar village panchayats of Attappadi taluk.
Lakshmi, a 60-year-old woman living in Agali village, has had at least 25 encounters with wild elephants in her life. She said she can adopt the traditional tactics of making noise, etc. to stop the elephants if she gets a proper warning. Indigenous people like her who have co-existed with wild animals all these years are finding it difficult to deal with the situation now.
“With the loss of forest cover, the frequency of wild elephant raids has increased. The need of the hour is a proper warning system,” said Lakshmi.
The Department of Forests and Wildlife Protection in Kerala has identified and mapped the hotspots that wild animals, especially elephants, frequent. But efforts to provide on-the-spot live updates have not yet materialised.
“With the latest technology, the forest department can create a dashboard to provide 24-hour live updates of the presence of wild animals near human habitations, places where people should be vigilant, where water and fodder needs to be provided, etc. It should be simple so that everyone understands the updates,” said TV Sajeevan, principal scientist at Kerala Forest Research Institute.
Chindi, a 65-year-old farmer living in Moolakombu village, feels that beehive fences are no match for the strength of the wild elephants. According to Chindi, traditional native plants like aattukomba amara (Attappady Dolichos bean or lablab bean) is a better deterrent.
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“Ever since I planted aattukombu amara, wild elephants have not raided my agricultural field. I’m getting a better price for the amara vegetable,” said Chindi.
Though it’s not scientifically proven, farmers like Chindi have been cultivating aattukombu amara, a bean cultivar of the Attapadi region, to ward off wild animals. The plant is believed to have a peculiar smell that’s unbearable for the wild animals. Many tribal farmers in the area rely more on the plant than on the beehive fences.
The farmers who grow the bean also get a good farm income. The Department of Agriculture Development & Farmers’ Welfare, Kerala, procures bio-certified aattukombu amara for Rs 1,000 per kg. The bean has a geographical indication (GI) tag.
While some like farmer Nanghi hope that the beehive fences will ward off elephants, many feel that neither the beehive fence nor the bean plant is enough to keep the wild animals away from the villages. At the same time, no one disputes the fact that the human-animal interactions are connected to the shrinking forest cover.
Forests cover nearly 30 percent of Kerala’s total land, according to the Department of Forests and Wildlife Protection. A report tabled by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in Kerala Legislative Assembly on 11 July pointed out that nearly 22 percent of this forest land has been diverted for non-forest purposes.
“With diminishing forest space, wild animals are raiding human habitations, seeking food and water. This issue has to be addressed first,” said VS Vijayan, an environment scientist and former director of Kerala State Biodiversity Board.
The forest department maintains 1,434 ponds and 574 farms within the forest to provide water and fodder for the wild animals, according to officials.
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“Though there have been many experiments, we don’t have any respite,” said Bhagavathy, a farmer living in Neelikuzhi. In the case of beehive fences, villagers too get bee stings on many occasions. And the elephants raided farms if the beehive fences were dismantled.
“The frequency of elephant attacks has reduced a bit in the regions where beehive fences have been installed,” said J Prabhavathy, a field assistant at The Millet Village Project under the Department of Agriculture Development & Farmers’ Welfare in Attappadi.
Everyone feels that a single solution or technology cannot prevent human-animal interactions. Nature of the landscape, reason behind the wild animal intrusion and climatic conditions also play a role.
A 2022 report by the Working Group on Addressing Issues Related to Human-Wildlife Interactions in Kerala for the 14th five-year plan (2022–2027) points out that the beehive fence at Peechi–Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary succeeded since it was supported by a solar fence. The report also cautions the use of beehive fences in areas where sloth bears live.
“We are aiming at integrating technologies with traditional knowledge in mitigating man-animal conflict,” said AK Saseendran, Minister for Forests and Wildlife Protection, Kerala.
Right now the state government has created a master plan and sanctioned Rs 645 crore to mitigate human-animal interactions. The master plan includes a 6.6 km long beehive fence.
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The lead image on top shows Nanghi, a 60-year-old woman living in Neelikuzi, Attapadi, who has been worried about elephants roaming around the village. (Photo by K Rajendran)
K Rajendran is a journalist based at Thiruvananthapuram.
This article has been written with the support of Mumbai Press Club–N R Prakash Fellowship for Science & Technology for 2024.
