• Recommendations to be made before end March

A special committee has been appointed to address crop damage caused by wild animals and to provide essential recommendations for managing the animals responsible.

This committee has been appointed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Livestock, and Irrigation, M.P.N.M. Wickramasinghe, under the directives of the Minister K.D. Lalkantha.

Accordingly, the ministry's Additional Secretary (Agricultural Development) D.S. Rathnasinghe, has been appointed as the Chairperson, along with 15 other members.

The committee is currently receiving and evaluating ideas and suggestions from scholars, environmental organisations, environmentalists, farmers, innovators, and citizens on how to prevent damage to crops caused by wild animals and manage the animals responsible for agricultural damage, according to the ministry.

In addition, the committee has identified the need to conduct a census of selected wild animals due to the lack of an accurate data system regarding the population of wild animals that damage agricultural crops. This census is planned for next March, and a preliminary survey was recently conducted in the Ingiriya Grama Niladhari Division to assess its feasibility.

A consultation with a group of experts on this subject was held with the participation of the minister.

During the consultation, the minister noted that there is currently no institution focused on Wildlife management and emphasised the importance of fostering a discourse on wildlife management within society.

The minister further stated that the current Government is expected to intervene and resolve this long-standing issue, which has developed over many years without proper management. The Government plans to implement both short-term and long-term measures in line with the recommendations of this committee.

Furthermore, all recommendations made by this committee are scheduled to be submitted to the minister before the end of March.