Sattari farmers want boar-culling procedure eased

Valpoi: A day after the state government has allowed site-specific culling of wild boars, farmers welcomed the move but were critical of the lengthy process of seeking due assessment and authorisation by forest department officials. While demanding that the process be simplified, they also sought for monkeys to be declared as vermin.
Sattari farmers said that allowing them to kill wild boars would help save 40% of their plantations.“We also want permission to kill monkeys, since they destroy 60% to 70% of our crops,” a farmer from Hedode-Sattari, Ashok Joshi said. He has been actively involved in the movement to declare some wild animals as vermin.
Farmers said that monkeys cause greater damage than wild boars and that coconut production has declined drastically in Sattari mainly due to the monkey menace.
The Goa government on Thursday issued a notification authorising the deputy conservator of forest to permit controlled killing of wild boars based on farmers’ complaints.
Joshi said that while he welcomes the decision he is unhappy with the lengthy procedure. “I demand that the government give farmers direct licence to kill wild boars and monkeys without any procedure. Our plantations will be destroyed while we wait for the lengthy official process to be completed.”
Another farmer from Sonal-Sattari, Ranjit Rane reiterated the demand for the procedure to be eased for farmers’ benefit. He added that they are also fed up with monkeys and bisons, who damage crops like coconut, banana, arecanut, etc. “They come in large numbers and we have had to face huge losses.”