As the season of paddy seedlings is on in the Kashmir region, people in various areas of north Kashmir’s Kupwara and Bandipora are perturbed as seedlings go missing overnight. All this is happening for a month, say locals of Dard Harie village of Kupwara.
The situation is worsening day by day as rice cultivation sustains our livelihood, say aggrieved farmers of village Harie of Kupwara. “We have set up guards at our fields who watch the fields day and night but these wild animals are not even sparing the seeds. The boars come in flock and lick all the seeds leaving nothing behind,” Mushtaq Ahmad a local resident told The Kashmiriyat.
The local residents are surprised at the unusual presence of the wild boars in the villages. “I am around 75 and I have never seen this happening before,” says Ghulam Ahmad Kumar.
They claimed having informed the agriculture and wild department officials, however, no one has succeeded in giving relief to poor farmers. Although a cage has been setup in the village to trap the wild animals, but the huge presence of wild boars continues undeterred.
Several villages in Bandipora are also dealing with heightened attacks from wild boars in their fields.
“The wild boars are damaging the bark of our apple trees, which is causing the trees to die. Although we have temporary fences in place to keep the wild animals out of the fields, they still manage to get through the fencing and continue to cause damage,” Mohammed Amir, a local farmer from Hajin in Bandipora told The Kashmiriyat.
Residents fear that the animals in the near future may pose a higher danger to the crops as these animals give birth twice a year and produce 4-6 piglets per litter.
“Local administration must take some serious steps against the menace otherwise our entire farming season will go in vain. 90 per cent population depends on agriculture and has no other source of livelihood,” Sarpanch of Dard Harie, Kupwara, Mohammad Sideeq Lone told The Kashmiriyat.