Dr. Prachi Mehta has initiated a pilot project on mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict in affected areas of Northern Karnataka with the financial support from CEPF- ATREE program. Under this project, we propose to constitute Crop Protection Committees (CPC) of farmers who are willing to participate in the project. The main tasks of CPC will to take responsibility of guarding the crops, patrolling and helping in management of HEC in partnership with the Forests Department. We have demonstrated the used of low-cost mitigation measures such as chilly bomb, chilly smoke, chilly rope as deterrents against elephants and trip alarms as an early detection for arrival of elephants in the area.

The farmers in the area have been introduced to the concept of cultivating mango and lemon as an intercrop with paddy to generate additional income that will help in offsetting crop damage loss. Four farmers have taken up cultivation of mango with the help of subsidy scheme from Horticulture Department, Haliyal. We plan to introduce a few other measures that will help the farmers in crop protection and in turn help in conservation of elephants in this region of Western Ghats.