A modern touch to scare crows

Miscellany

Most of the farmers residing in the vicinity of Shivalli village in Mandya taluk have not heard the saying “Necessity is the mother of invention”.

 Nevertheless, as their efforts to shoo away birds from their agricultural fields went in vain, the farmers have found a novel way to protect their crops from birds.

The farmers at Mallanayakana Katte, Holalu, Hosahalli, Konanahalli, Shivalli, Induvalu and a few other villages in Mandya taluk are using helmets as scare crows to protect their crops from birds.

One can see a good number of helmets fixed to wooden logs in the middle of paddy fields and vegetable farms in Shivalli, Mallanayakana Katte and other villages.

Earlier, the farmers were using slingshots, fire-crackers and scare crows to shoo away birds from their agricultural fields. But, now they have found a novel idea of installing waste helmets to save their crops from birds.

The agriculturists say that peacock and others birds are causing heavy crop loss in their villages since past several years. Earlier, the farmers used to kill the peacocks and several other birds to protect their crops. Now they are aware of forest laws and hence are using all kinds of methods to scare the birds.

“We were using reflective ribbons, crackers and scarecrows to shoo away birds from our fields,” Rangappa, a farmer at Hosahalli said.

It may be a spectacular sight watching the birds at agricultural fields. But they are causing heavy crop loss during the harvest period.

Flocks of birds feed on the grains that are ready for harvesting. The waste helmets fixed with radium stickers are effectively protecting a wide variety of crops, including paddy, banana, maize and vegetable crops from the birds, farmers claim.