In an innovative step to reduce man-elephant conflict in Alipurduar district in North Bengal and,at the same time, provide livelihood opportunities to local villagers, the district administration is going about placing bee boxes in the farms adjoining the forests. The humming sound produced by bee keeps the elephants at bay and, at the same time, provides the local people with additional income from the selling of 100 per cent pure natural forest honey.
Indian Masterminds interacted with the District Magistrate of Alipurduar, 2011-batch IAS officer Surendra Kumar Meena, to get more details about this initiative.
HUMMING BEES
The Jaldapara National Park and Buxa Tiger Reserve fall in the Alipurduar district. In the adjoining human-populated areas, man-pachyderm conflict not only leads to loss of lives but huge agriculture crop losses too.
The district administration of Alipurduar finally found a way for harmonious existence between elephant and human and to do away with the need for the local villagers to venture into the deep forest in search of livelihood.They decided to introduce them to beekeeping which will serve two purposes. It will of course generate additional livelihood opportunities for them, and at the same time, the buzzing sound made by the bees will keep elephants away.
Talking to Indian Masterminds, DM Surendra Kumar Meena said, “Through this bottle of honey, you are not only getting a pure organic product but also saving precious lives. This initiative has been conceived for harmonious existence between elephants and human and stop the villagers from venturing into deep forests for collection of honey and getting involved in conflict with the jumbos. Since ages, elephant-human conflict has been endangering the lives of the dwellers living near Buxa and Jaldapara. Large number of elephants use these corridors every year and many lives are lost,and huge agriculture crop losses are incurred.”
He explained how to tackle the problem, the administration is promoting bee farming in those areas. Bee boxes are kept in the farms adjoining the forest area. The humming sound that comes out from the bees keeps the elephants away.
“It not only keeps the elephants away and provides harmonious existence between human and elephants, but it is also enhancing the income of the farmers. The honey is also saving precious lives. We are expecting a big amount of honey this year, around 10,000 kg will be ready.”
FREE TRAINING
The administration plans to involve over 1500 families living near Buxa Tiger Reserve and Jaldapara National Park under this project. The training of apiculture by using bee boxes will be provided free of cost to the interested villagers through convergence of Utkarsh Bangla scheme. The state government will be spending Rs. 2 crore for the project. According to administration, a pilot project was rolled out at Nurpur in the same district 18 months back by involving 300 families, which proved to be very successful.
MITIGATING HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT
Earlier, the artificial sound of honeybees to keep elephants away from railway tracks had created quite a buzz. This novel idea was introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway and brought down the number of accidents. The Northeast Frontier Railway has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist.
Now Alipurduar district is using real sound produced by bees to keep the elephants at bay and providing livelihood opportunity at the same time.
Stressing on the urgent need to tackle human-elephant conflict,the officer further said, “It is not a simple issue. It should be given more attention as animals leading to confrontation with humans is very dangerous for our eco-system. The conflict is a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. Elephant is a long-range animal, and because of habitat loss, they enter agricultural lands or villages. This leads to conflict and destruction.”
When elephants and humans interact, there is conflict from crop raiding, injuries and deaths to humans caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation.
Each year, around 100 elephants are killed by human-related activity in India, some from being run over by trains, others in retaliation for damage to crops and property. Though normally considered gentle giants, elephants come into frequent conflict with humans and kill around 500 people every year.
