More guns for Sri Lankan farmers

(COLOMBO) – Sri Lankan farmers are to receive more shot guns to protect their crops from wild animals and others such as Wild Boar, Toque Monkeys and Giant Squirrels, local media reported on Thursday.

Quoting officials with the Agriculture Ministry the reports added that farmers owning two acres of land will be provided with the shot guns that will be regulated by regional state officials.

Earlier shot guns were provided to farmers that owned more than five acres of land.

According to the reports most farmers have abandoned their farming owing to the menace from wild animals.

In 2023, wild animals destroyed 300 million coconut plantations in the country, and in the previous year, 96 million coconuts were destroyed by Toque Monkeys and Giant Squirrels. It has been confirmed that these wild animals destroy about 40 percent of the total crops, the reports added.

“If we can protect crops from wild animals, we can be self-sufficient in food without cultivating new crops,” the reports quoted the ministry as saying.

In a related development some 30 organisations have petitioned the courts to prevent the State from a planned export of 100,000 Toque Macaque monkeys to China that are endemic to Sri Lanka.

Among the petitioners is the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS)