Rogue monkeys force farmers to leave fields barren in Himachal Pradesh - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The monkey menace in Baragaon village in Himachal Pradesh has grown to intolerable proportions, forcing the farmers of the region to leave their fields barren. Lured by easy availability of food, the monkeys march in hordes to human settlements. In addition, their favourite jaunts are the fields that offer them a variety of crops to feed on. For the farmers of the region, the monkeys are nuisance and with literally no support from the government, there is no respite. "The monkeys have made our lives miserable, we have to face a lot of difficulties due to them. The government is not doing anything and has left them free to roam about and destroy our fields. We are facing a heavy loss, as they eat up our crops. They ate up our cornfields too. They are not even scared of us," said Reema Sharma, a farmer. "All our farm fields have been left barren and we are not able to grow any crop. There is no point of growing any crop in the fields, as the monkeys come eat up the whole produce. We have been facing this problem since two to three years," said Sunil, another farmer. So far, the monkeys have destroyed apple farms, peas, maize and other crops. Growing pressure on environment has led to depletion of the animals' habitat. Due to the declining green cover, the simians have been forced to enter the populated areas.