Check wild elephant menace, urge planters

Parliamentary committee meets growers in Kodagu

Coffee growers urged members of the Parliamentary standing committee on commerce to initiate measures to check wild elephant menace in Kodagu district.

The committee visited Madikeri on Saturday.

The committee, led by Shanthakumar, had come to listen to the woes and demands of coffee and tea growers.

In a meeting convened by the committee, growers raised the issue of wild elephant menace. They said: “Wild elephants have been damaging coffee crops. As a result, the production is on decline.”

The growers said: “Solar fence and trenches constructed on the periphery of the forest have failed to check the entry of elephants to villages. There is a need to find out new methods to check the menace.”

They said the Centre should provide financial assistance to construct houses for estate labourers and to provide basic needs like water connection and electricity.

The subsidy for mechanisation should be increased to 50 per cent. All the problems faced by the growers while exporting coffee should be sorted out, the growers said in a memorandum.

The memorandum said: “As coffee is fetching good price, none of the growers are ready to plant new saplings by removing old ones.

Instead of earmarking crores for re-plantation, it would be better, if the government announces few more subsidies for the growers.”

Later, speaking to presspersons, Shanthakumar said: “We have listened to the woes of the coffee growers in Kodagu district. A detailed report will be submitted to the commerce ministry.”