Dambullah: Sri Lanka on Saturday launched a wildlife census for counting monkeys, peacocks and giant squirrels, which will have to manage their population as farmers complain of agriculture loss.
Government data shows that agriculture is 8% of the country’s economy and employs 8.1 million people.
According to the Export Development Board (EDB), Sri Lanka is the fourth largest coconut product exporter globally and produces about 3 billion cashews and other nuts.
But with coconut production, vegetables and fruit cultivation, the crop has been killed by monkeys, peacocks and giant squirrels, a top government official said.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne said, “The problem has become so bad that people are leaving farming. We are losing about 20% of the total agricultural production. It is estimated that 90 million coconuts are lost every year.”
“Census is the first step to understand the density of these animals in the fields of farming so that we can create appropriate policies to manage them.”
The census comes after an incident in February when a monkey made a nationwide blackout and power cut for three days.
72 -year -old farmer, Edirizing Erachilage Gananaasena counted 45 monkeys, six giant squirrels and nine peacocks in five minutes allotted for the census. In Dambulla, a city in Central Sri Lanka, his eight -acre plot of the farm has been struggling with crop loss for years.
Gyanasena spent hours, patrolling clean rows of coconut, mango and banana plants, patrolling the clean rows of coconut, mango and banana plants, with an air gun across its shoulder and in a plastic bag, which she has grown carefully.
But the tribes of monkeys still strip hundreds of coconut trees and choose mangoes, while peacocks swallow beans for a long time, Gyanasena said.
“Monkeys are used for air guns, so I lighten crackers to scare them. But they always come back.”
Farmers credited the increasing number of monkeys, peacocks, porpines and wild boar in the area for the loss of residence.
“I hope this census leads to long -term solutions. That’s what we want,” he said.
“This is not the fault of animals. It’s man’s fault.”
