The Wild Boar Crop Damage Prevention Scheme introduced in the Tamil Nadu Government’s agriculture Budget may bring much-needed relief to the farmers of Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts, who are suffering significant loss every season with the crop-raiding wild boars causing extensive damage to the standing crops that include paddy, vegetables, millets, groundnut, grams etc.Even though wild boars are seen in large number in the areas close to the Western Ghats, these animals have settled down in forests in the plains like Alangulam, Manur, Kadayam, Cheranmahadevi etc. Even the farmers of Kayathar, Kovilpatti and Vilaaththikulam taluks say that the wild boars have entered even their areas to damage millets and grams, which are located 70 to 90 Km away from the Western Ghats while the forest department deny it saying that the animals being spotted in these places are common pigs.With the thorny bushes providing them excellent shelter from where they invade into the ranches for their food, the wild boar population has increased menacingly. Farmers who try to chase these animals away from their fields even with the help of their dogs come under brutal attack by these ruthless animals.In Kadayam area in Tenkasi district, most of the farmers cultivate vegetables, largely tubers, a delicious dish of wild boars. The farmers of Cheranmahadevi, Thirukkurungudi, Kalakkad, Alangulam and Maanur, who cultivate a range of crops including paddy and other less water-intensive crops, too face the wild boar invasion as these animals have moved far away from the Western Ghats.Hence, the farmers’ clamour for killing the crop-raiding wild boars are much stronger and louder now. However, this wild animal enjoys legal protection with the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 shields it after listing it as ‘Schedule III animal’.But the neighbouring Kerala government, following immense pressure from their farmers, approached the Union Government to get exemption from this protection given to wild boars, which can be hunted down if it enters a farm 3 km away from the reserve forest. Even though the Tamil Nadu farmers are making similar appeal for the past several years, no government is interested in translating this plea into action.Against this backdrop, the present government has proposed to launch the wild boar crop damage prevention scheme. As per this proposal, environment-friendly liquid wild boar repellent developed by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) will be distributed to the farmers at subsidised rates. The scheme will be implemented in 14,000 acres at an outlay of ₹1.35 crore from the State fund.In order to minimise the crop damages caused not only by wild boars but also by elephants, gaurs and deer, solar-powered electric fencing systems will be installed in the current year at subsidised rates for just 134 farmers at an outlay of ₹2 crore, as per the Budget proposal.The Budget also says that removal of Prosopis juliflora from government and private lands will be carried out through the District Collectors at an outlay of ₹4 crore from the State fund as these thorny bushes provide excellent shelter and habitat to wild boar herds.However, the farmers demand the removal of wild boars, a Schedule III animal of Scheduled List Wildlife Protection Act 1972, from this list as done by the Kerala Government alone could permanently protect their crops and the agriculturists from this wild animal.“The wild boar population, which might have descended to the plains from Western Ghats as the herds moved out of the mountains in search of food and water, has increased manifold with the thorny buses grown along the Chittar watercourse sheltering them. In our area (Manur Taluk), we don’t have any proper irrigation system and most of us take water from deep borewells for raising crops with much difficulty. However, the wild boar herds invade the fields to damage the crops – mostly millets, groundnut, green gram, black gram etc. If the Tamil Nadu, following the footsteps of the Kerala Government, remove the wild boars from giving scheduled status, the farmers themselves can take stringent measures to chase away or kill the crop-raiding wild boars instead of waiting for the forest personnel to do this job. While we welcome this move, we want the Tamil Nadu Government to look for a permanent remedy to remove wild boars from the list of Scheduled Animals of Wildlife Protection Act,” says D. Abraham of Kanarpatti near Manur, who is the Tirunelveli district secretary of the Coordination Committee of Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Associations. Published - August 06, 2026 07:17 pm IST