With tigers on prowl, scared farmers unable to tend cotton plants in forest areas

Adilabad: The tiger ‘problem’ is not only confined to Podu lands but also the agricultural fields in revenue patta lands. Many such lands are located in forest areas or on the fringes of forests in Kagaznagar forest division, where tiger movement is high.

Farmers say tiger movement is a nightmare for them. Those who have agriculture lands in the forest areas are incurring loss as they are not able to attend to emergency farm operations due to fear of tiger attacks.

Farmers are unable to apply fertilizers and do weeding operations in their cotton fields amid reports of tiger movement and incidents of tigers attacking cattle in Kagaznagar forest division.

Most of them cultivate cotton and red gram in the Kharif in the villages in Penchikalpet, Bejjur, Dahegam and Kagaznagar mandals. These crops require the attention of farmers at every stage -- from the sowing of seeds, germination and while growing the plant.

Some farmers are doing the agriculture operations in groups at Loha, Kondapalli, Lodpalli, Digada and Gollaguda villages in the forest areas even as tiger movement was high in Kagaznagar.

Even farm workers are also feeling insecure and not showing much interest for weeding operations in these fields.

The ferocious tiger A2 killed the two youths including an agriculture labourer during the cotton picking season in the last Kharif season. It also killed many cows. The tiger attacked a girl while she was picking cotton near Kondapalli in Penchikalpet last year.

There were incidents of villagers and field-level staff narrowly escaping from tiger attacks in the interior villages of Kagaznagar division last year.

Farmers used to go to their agriculture fields in the forests and fringe areas without any fear in the past, but the situation has charged with more tigers being on the prowl in the area.

Local people are regularly sighting the tiger and some field-level forest staff have narrowly escaped from tiger attacks two days ago.

The possibility of tiger attack has increased during the rainy season. In the lush greenery, people can’t easily notice the presence of a tiger if it is resting somewhere in the bushes.

Linganna of Gollaguda in Penchikalpet mandal said they can’t change the location of the lands they have been cultivating for the last 50 years. Now there are more numbers of tigers and there are also their frequent movements near these agricultural lands.