Cornell Sathguru Foundation for Development has undertaken a project to help improve agriculture production of small and marginal farmers by installing solar fencing in the village of paniyal, Medak. This project is aimed towards improving the agricultural production of these farmers by addressing the most critical problem faced by them i.e the Animal menace. The problem of animal menace has caused heavy losses and affected agricultural activities in this village. The farmers also changed the cropping pattern leading to growing only the cash crops and minimizing food crops.
In the absence of solar fencing, the farmers, apparently, resort to solutions like usage of fire, fire crackers, trumpets and utensils to make loud noises, patrolling the entire night, using saree as fencing, smearing the pig fat (pungent smell shoos away the animals) to ropes and fence them, etc. which have not proved to be efficient enough to stop the animals from attacking. Understanding the magnitude of this issue, and in order to make high end technological solutions accessible to farmers, a community solar fence is being erected here.
The baseline studies highlights that the farmers, with the reduction of the animal attacks on their farmlands are willing to shift to growing of the food crops and completely utilize the cultivable lands. This solution, as the farmers perceive, would also improve the agricultural production and help them enhance their livelihoods and income.
