Economic assessment of crop damages by animal menace in mid hill regions of Himachal Pradesh

The present study assessed the extent of animal menace and its impact on the economic losses of crops in midhill regions of Himachal Pradesh. The study was conducted in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh and was based on the primary data collected from 60 farm households selected through three stage random sampling process. It was observed that in the existing scenario, due to animal menace, the net and total cropped area has declined by 12.66 and 17.35%, respectively in comparison to the before menace period. Out of the total cropped area, 33.03% was prone to animal menace out of which 54.69 and 45.31% was affected by wild and stray animals, respectively. The extent of animal menace varied across the crops. On an average, 45.76, 43.07 and 31.25% of total area under maize, wheat and paddy, respectively was prone to animal menace and it was relatively lower in vegetable crops vis-a-vis cereals. The overall productivity levels of cereal crops decreased by about 16 to 24% due to the problem of animal menace in the study area. The total cost of cultivation of field crops in menace prone areas and overall situation (menace prone + non menace prone) was significantly higher compared to the non-menace prone areas due to the cost of watch and ward and fencing activities on sample farms. The total economic losses on account of animal menace in field crops were estimated at ` 25358/farm in which the share of wheat was highest (32.48%), followed by paddy (13.27%) and maize (12.22%). In the total economic loss, the share of loss in production was slightly higher (53.63%) compared to increase in total cost of cultivation on account of management of animal menace.