Karnataka Farmer's Free-of-cost Technique To Protect Crops From Birds And Monkeys

A large section of the Indian population still depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Many Indian farmers are still reliant on traditional methods without access to modern techniques, leading to poor crop yield. There can be other reasons for poor crop yield as well and one very pestering problem is the issue of animal intrusion. Crop damage caused by birds and animals remains a big threat to a successful and good harvest. It can be a tedious task to stop these birds and animals from attacking the crops and in most cases solutions can be quite expensive as well.

Traditional ways like using a scarecrow barely work any more and modernising solutions like building an electrified fence around the farm can cost a fortune for the farmer. However, a farmer from the coastal regions of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has found a very feasible and cost-effective workaround to this problem.

Nelson D’ Souza, a resident of Pacchinadka in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada, harvests rice crops but frequent birds as well as monkey attacks had become a menace for him for quite some time. The biggest challenge for the Nelson family was the protection of the rice crop every time it came close to harvest as it was during this time that birds and monkeys destroyed the crop.

Nelson came up with a solution by causing a big bang. Not in the metaphorical sense but literally as he now uses firecrackers to cause loud bangs across his fields and scare away birds and monkeys.

Nelson D’Souza puts a spare firecracker on one side of a half-inch diameter bent iron pipe and sets it on fire. As he walks around the fields and sees any signs of intrusion, he explodes the firecracker. At the loud sound coming from the other side of the pipe, animals and birds that destroy the crops are startled and instantly flee. He successfully protects his crops by using an iron pipe bend worth only Rs 50 and putting a spare firecracker of Rs 1 in it. It cannot be any more cost-effective than this.

Nelson has also advised his friends who own farms to use this almost free-of-cost technique to protect their farms against stray animals and birds.