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Aaranyak (a Guwahati-based wildlife NGO) and WWF (World Wide Fund) under their collaborative initiative installed a seasonal single-wire solar-powered fence over 20 hectares of cropland at Maliata area near Mirza in Kamrup district of Assam in order to protect 'Ready-to-be-harvested' paddy in the area from wild elephants.
A herd of 10 wild elephants used to damage standing paddy in crop fields of the Maliata area in Kamrup district around the harvesting season causing hardship to the farmers. "Seasonal solar fence has been adopted as a new mechanism for protection of standing paddy in areas prone to human-elephant conflict (HEC). These single-wire solar-powered fences are removed once the paddy is harvested so as not to restrict the movements of wild elephants throughout the year. We have adopted this mechanism extensively in many areas in eastern Assam so far," said Dr Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar, Senior Scientist at the premier biodiversity conservation organisation, Aaranyak. On being requested by the Forest Department which was exploring options to protect the ripe paddy of farmers without causing harm to the heard of wild elephants, Aaranyak and WWF joined hands to install the single-wire seasonal solar fence at Maliata village under Palashbari Revenue Circle of Kamrup district to protect the paddy on crop fields of Gossaihat, Uparpara and Doapara areas. An extension of this solar fence was installed on Tuesday (November 7). The one-km-long single-strand seasonal fence is expected to protect standing paddy on about 20 hectares of land and around 300 households in the area have directly or indirectly been protected by this solar fence. A group of local farmers led by DD Boro of Gossaihat village extended their support to the Aaranyak team during the installation work. The solar fence materials have been mobilized through collaboration between Aaranyak and WWF. Aaranyak official Anjan Baruah along with Bijoy Kalita oversaw the installation work with the proactive support of local farmers. (ANI)
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