Human Elephant Conflict in Northern Andhra Pradesh
Parvathipuram: Most human deaths have occurred while the farmers were tending to their farms. R. Lakshmi Naidu, a 52-year-old farmer from Parasurampuram village was trampled to death by one of the wild male elephants while he was on his farm with his cousin Sanyasi Naidu. Sanyasi managed to escape unhurt but his cousin succumbed to the injuries in October, 2020. Another 69-year-old woman, Allada Athamma, was trampled to death while she ventured out to collect the harvest from her farm early in the morning on May 6, 2021.
“My farm has been raided by the elephants often. We grow tomatoes and bananas on my farm. The compensation hasn’t been sufficient compared to the losses we incur. Our agricultural tools have been damaged too. We have given up any hope of help from the state. The elephants need to be moved,” reiterated another farmer, Narumnareddy, whose farm lies at the foothills of the hillock where the elephants have taken refuge.
Half of the over 1,900 elephants present in Odisha, India are outside Protected Area networks. With that comes the threat of human-elephant conflict which is a major concern for the state. Odisha is part of the central Indian elephant habitat, one of the most fragmented and degraded habitats because of encroachment, shifting cultivation and mining activities
The northern part of Odisha has the highest number of iron ore, manganese and chromate mines. The southern part has about nine percent of the total forest area under shifting cultivation.
“There are internal and external pressures which affect the population of elephants. Internal pressures are developmental projects, construction of roads, dams, hydel projects. External pressures include an increase in human population and land expansion for agriculture. Ultimately, elephants are squeezed in all this,” said Ananda Kumar, an expert on human-elephant conflict and behaviour of Asian elephants in human-dominated landscapes, at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).
He added, “On an average, the home range of elephants depends on the pressures of that area. The minimum forest cover an elephant requires is 700-odd square km. Although studies have proven that male elephants have a larger home range than females.”
Vizianagaram district, in northern Andhra Pradesh, has a moderate deciduous forest cover as well as a scrub forest with a human population of 18,53,563 as per the 2011 Census.
Vizianagaram, where the elephants have migrated to, is further divided into eastern and western zones by a state highway passing through Parvathipuram, the Nagavali river running parallel to the highway, and a railway line passing through Parvathipuram. No recognised migratory route of elephants or a continuous forest patch exists as per the Project Elephant Report 1992 and WTI’s Right of Passage report.
Further, the revival of the Thotapally barrage in Parvathipuram in 2015 doubled the irrigation potential from 64,000 acres to 1,20,000 acres in the present day in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. To accommodate this project, the Andhra Pradesh government carried out human resettlement.
New villages such as Seemanaiduvalasa, Gijaba, Nandivanivalasa, and Nimmalapadu were established around the barrage and railway tracks on the outskirts of Parvathipuram, which led to an economic boom in the area. Vizianagaram’s economy depends heavily on agriculture. With better availability of water, farmers did not have to rely solely on rainfall to grow their crops. This led to agricultural land expansion around the bordering districts. The farmers primarily grow crops such as tomatoes, sugarcane, maize, rice, and banana plantations.
“Elephants spend 70 percent to 75 percent of their time feeding. They prefer living in a covered forest canopy. Decreased availability of food and disturbances in their habitat compels them to move from one location to another,” said Sandeep Tiwari, Program Manager, IUCN SSC (International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission), Asian Elephant Specialist Group. “The herd which migrated to Parvathipuram could perhaps have taken refuge in the hills and banana plantations as it mimics their natural habitat of a fuller forest cover,” added Tiwari.