Saving potatoes from the wild
Electric fencing is the only solution, says farmers

This year, farmer Sangay of Zungye village cultivated potato twice. It is not the market demand or the high yielding variety seed. It was the wild boars.
With wild boars damaging almost all her potato crops, the farmer replanted potatoes so that it will be not be late for harvest. She had removed the old wooden fence and replaced it with a stronger one. She is among the few farmers in the village who is not deterred by the wild animals. “Some have given up cultivation and left their land fallow,” she said.
Zungye has 128 households spread over five hamlets of Nangye, Yamthrak, Zungye, Trakkar and Nangar and is sparsely populated with about 150 people.
The people are subsistence farmers depending on potato, buckwheat and a variety of vegetables. Villagers have access to electricity, rural water supply, and mobile network and are connected with the gewog center and other chiwogs via a farm road, often not passable during the monsoon.
Zungye is the furthest chiwog in Chhumig gewog and settled close to lush green forest and also home to many different wildlife species. Their closeness to the wild is giving them nightmares. “I could hardly reap half of what is cultivated in my fields every year,” said Phurpa, a farmer who has finally bought electric fencing materials to ward off the pigs. Including Phurba, 33 farmers have bought the new technology.
But it is farmers like Sangay who are paying the price. “Every year, crops are lost to wildlife despite sleepless nights of guarding the fields,” she said.
Like Zungye, Gyetsa is also feeling the same.
A villager, Tshewang, returning with a dozen of torch batteries said he is used to shout. “I do that five times every hour,” said Tshewang who had made a hut near his field. “I don’t have an electric fence to defend from wildlife, so I need a torch while I move around,” he said.
Chhumig, Mangmi, Chundu Tshering said most of the chiwog didn’t have electric fencing except for one patch of land, which received one on trial sometime back.“Despite the electric fence’s efficacy in combating human-wildlife conflict, villagers cannot afford it,” he said. “Loss of crops to wildlife is still a major problem here.”
Around 8.5 km (58 acres) of electric fencing has been constructed in Chhumig gewog but this covers only nine of the 334 households. The farm lands of over 312 households are not protected by electric fences.
Last year some households in Zungye and Gyetsa were left with almost nothing after wildlife damaged over 18 acres of potato in Zungye and 20 acres in Gyetsa. According to the report about 114.5 acres of crops were destroyed by wildlife.
Agriculture Extension officer of Chhumig gewog, Tshewang Lhamo said the crops are equally damaged in every village but since Zungye and Gyatsa has higher population than rest of the chiwogs, the villages in these two chiwogs are affected the most.
“The only solution to protect the agricultural crops is solar and electric fencing at the moment,” she said. She added that the forest officials are carrying out awareness campaigns in the gewogs.
Some farmers are worried that if all cannot afford electric fencing, wildlife attack on crops will be worse for those who cannot afford.
The dzongkhag is planning to incorporate electric fencing in the12thPlanto reduce human-wildlife conflict and reclaim the fallowing lands.
Dzongkhag Agriculture officer, Gaylong said that electric fences were given only for groups, communities far-flung farmlands and for households with acute labour shortage for coverage of the larger area in the chiwogs.
“We have tried out few controls methods to reduce wild animal damage such as sensor sound and light when the pigs or any other animals enter the fields but this also did not work,” he said.
He added that from 2014, they have electric and solar fencing, which was proven to be successful till date and many farmers wanted to get the electric fencing.
As per the report of electric fencing which have been supplied to the four gewogs, Choekhor gewog has got 15.96 kilometers (km) and it has benefited 147 household and cover 146 acres of land.
Likewise, Tang gewog has been provided with 6.6km of electric fencing and it has benefited 29 household with 52 acres of land, 21.2 km of fences to Ura and it has benefited 233 household of 328 acres and Chumig gewog with 8.5 km, benefited 9 household in total of 58 acres of land.
Meanwhile, farmers in the geowgs that have installed electric and solar electric fencing are hoping for a good harvest this year. A villager, Sonam said he had never harvest a full crop in the past as wild boar and deer damaged them. “My potatoes are safe now,” she said.