Abode of monkeys in Okhaldhunga, destruction of fruits of village

There was a time when the village was home to all of the youth. It was cultivated all over the place. Not any longer. All of the youth are foreigners now. In the village, there are only elders and children. There isn’t any farmer. Monkeys also devastate Okhaldhunga’s agriculture.

Locals estimate that monkeys have been in Okhaldhunga for about 9-10 years. There were no monkeys here before, according to them. The monkeys of Charkose Jhadi (dense forest) made their way into Kathmandu via the jungle. According to local Magbirr Rai, the government loaded the Kathmandu monkeys into a truck and transported them to Okhaldhunga. After that, their sad days began on that day.

‘Monkeys started appearing in our village after the monkeys from Kathmandu were brought here,’ he says, ‘otherwise, there were no monkeys in our village.’

According to him, when hundreds of monkeys arrive at once, all of the village’s fruits are destroyed. Monkeys enter the house through open windows and doors and scatter the dishes.

Growing crops such as corn and millet became difficult after the monkeys arrived in the village. Only the remnants of fruits such as corn, millet, chayote, sponge gourd, cucumber, orange, and so on remain after hundreds of monkeys enter the village together.

While following this problem, we came across 65-year-old Phinsulile Rai (old mother), who was leaving maize in the yard.

‘Last year, we couldn’t cultivate a grain of corn,’ says the mother. Everything was devoured by the monkey. The monkey will appear at any time. You can’t be awake all the time. When monkeys appear, you cannot drive them away on your own. Only the elderly live at home. But this time, even though there was barely enough corn, cultivation was done.’

Jharna Rai’s monkey story is no less tragic than theirs. My mother loved sponge gourd vegetables, so she grew them all over the garden. There was no one in the house. All of the grass was turned into firewood. When she returned, the monkeys had devoured all of the sponge gourds and thrown them everywhere.

This is not just a problem for Magbir Phinsuli and Jharna. It is a problem shared by all Okhaldhunga residents.

Monkeys have begun to disturb the locals by eating crops in Terai villages and settlements from east to west, from the Mahabharata mountain range to the Chure mountains, and in Terai villages and settlements around Madhesh and Charkose Jhadi. Furthermore, residents of national parks and reserves, as well as intermediate areas, must bear the costs of crop damage caused by animals such as wild boar, deer, nilgai, porcupine, jackal, and elephant.

After being left empty-handed when bringing in the hard-earned crops, young people who have gone abroad and remained in the village, as well as local elders, do not want to cultivate.

Agriculture production is less than the country’s fertility capacity because farming is not possible. Farmland is becoming depleted. Perti and Navabutyan’s territory has expanded. It has prioritized agricultural product imports. With an increase in imports, the country’s foreign exchange reserves will dwindle, the country will become dependent, and the economy will collapse.

In that case, it appears that the government must resolve this issue as soon as possible. Otherwise, the agricultural sector, which accounts for nearly one-third of the country’s GDP and employs nearly two-thirds of Nepalis, will continue to contract. And, even for a bag of rice and vegetables, every Nepali may have to pay for foreign imports.

-Tenzing Dolma Tamang/MK