Farmers have taken to ginger cultivation in a big way to keep elephants at bay and, at the same time, rake in the moolah

Ranchi, Jan. 18: A deterrent for elephants, ginger is fast turning into a cash crop.

Farmers of areas prone to regular elephant attacks like Lapung, Bero in Ranchi and Bharno in Gumla are changing the crop pattern to distract the mammal. Not surprisingly, ginger cultivation is becoming a craze in the Bero-Bharno belt.

Gumla divisional forest officer Sanjeev Kumar said farmers of the Bero-Bharno region had started shifting to crops like ginger and jute to keep elephants away and make money. The land, he pointed out, is conducive to ginger farming. “We encourage farmers to take up cash crops to avoid man-animal conflict, but in spite of that many continue to cultivate the traditional paddy,” he said.

Gumla subdivisional officer Rajeshwar Das believes the recent vegetable cultivation wave in Bero (Ranchi) has extended to the bordering Bharno area of Gumla. “Farmers have learnt the benefits of vegetable cultivation from Mandar, Bero and Sauns in Ranchi. I do not believe the shift is due to elephants,” he said.

“Elephants love bamboo, potato, sweet potato, banana, papaya, maize, paddy. Sugarcane is a hot favourite, but it is not cultivated in Jharkhand. Elephants neither eat nor harm plants that grow under the ground like turmeric and ginger. They are also not interested in oil bearing crops, so we encourage farmers to cultivate them as it sure to keep them away. Though it is not a policy, we advocate it to avoid man-animal conflict,” Jharkhand principal chief conservator of forest J.L. Shrivastava said.

Xavier Institute of Social Sciences director Beni Ekka has personal experience of witnessing the changing crop pattern in Lapung area due to regular elephant attacks in the last 20 years. He says villagers had shifted to cultivation of cash crops like ginger and chilly in a big way to keep elephants away and also make money. Many cultivate ginger and chilly as second and third crop.

“But despite encouragement to shift entirely to cash crops, many villagers still cultivate paddy for sustenance. People of the region are basically rice eaters who cannot survive without cultivating the crop. Besides, not everyone can afford to cultivate cash crops because they need heavy investment,” Ekka said.

“We had adopted 11 panchayats in Lapung and arranged for lift irrigation. Certain villages were on the elephant trail and the pachyderms regularly ate up and damaged the crops. But farmers have found that elephants do not touch peas at all. It needs to be researched why they do not eat or even destroy peas when it tastes so good,” Ekka said.

Agriculture director V. Jayaram said villagers were sowing cash crops mainly to earn more. “Earlier only those farmers went for cash crops who could afford because of the high production costs. But now diversification is in thanks to government support. We have many schemes to encourage farmers to go for commercially viable crops. But the farmers continue to cultivate traditional crops.”