[ Prafulla Kaman ]
PASIGHAT, 12 Sep: The oil palm cultivators of Mebo in East Siang district have appealed to the Agriculture Department to provide solar-powered fencing to protect their gardens from wild elephants.
There is an elephant corridor passing through the Mebo area. Every year, wild elephants destroy young plants and damage the wooden and barbed wire fences of thefarmers’ gardens.
With no other option left, the farmers have now appealed to the department, seeking solar panel-powered fencing to protect their horticulture gardens from wild elephants.
East Siang District Agriculture Officer Opang Moyong said that the people in Mebo area don’t take up oil palm cultivation on a large scale, despite the land being suitable for it, due to disturbance by wild elephants.
Moyong, who earlier worked as the district nodal officer of the oil palm cultivation project, observed that the rapid growth of oil palm cultivation in the district not only promises economic prospects for the local horticulturists but is also likely to make significant contribution to the country’s edible oil production.
The oil palm cultivation project in the district was introduced in April 2016, after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the state government and Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd (presently Patanjali Food Ltd) to promote its cultivation in the district.
Initially, cultivation was started in 230 hectares in Pasighat, Mebo, Sille-Oyan, Ruksin and Bilat in East Siang district.
