How to keep rampaging elephants at bay

Indo Asian News Service
February 11, 2007
Ranchi, Feb 11 (IANS) Farmers in Jharkhand are now keeping in mind the tastes of elephants while sowing crops to prevent the tuskers from rampaging their fields and killing people.
In the last few years, the farmers have come to know the likes and dislikes of elephants that regularly enter the villages, damage standing crops and kill people too. They now prefer not to sow rabi (summer) crops.
'This year we have sown crops taking into account the taste of elephants. And we hope that our experiment will save us from the tuskers,' said Phool Kumar, a farmer of Ranchi's Torpa block.
He said: 'The elephants dislike mustard oil seeds. They like paddy and venture into our fields and damage the standing crops.'
The farmers also plan to grow vegetables that are not liked by the pachyderms.
'This year I will grow vegetables like pumpkin, radish, bitter gourd that the animals don't like,' said Sohan Mahto of Khuti block.
The rampaging elephants are known to like the taste of paddy and mahua (local intoxicant used for liquor). The farmers were often forced to use cow dung on granaries to hide the smell of food grains to keep away the elephants.

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