BHOJPUR: Farmers across Bhojpur district are facing a growing crisis as monkey attacks on crops have intensified, threatening year-round food supplies and pushing some residents to consider leaving their villages.
The problem is especially severe in lower-altitude areas and settlements near forests, where monkeys enter fields during the maize harvest season, destroying crops within minutes. Farmers report that entire harvests are often wiped out before they can be collected.
The menace has spread across all nine local levels of the district, including Bastim, Dalgau, Manebhanjyang, Khawa, Kot, Gogane, Lekharka, Bokhim, and Dhodlekhani. Residents say that as lowland settlements empty out, monkeys have started moving even into higher-altitude areas.
Rajendra Rai, a resident of Ward 6 in Ramprasadrai Rural Municipality, urged the government to find an effective solution before the situation worsens. “Monkeys have become the biggest problem for farmers. They can destroy in minutes what takes us a whole year to grow. If this continues, villages will be abandoned,” he warned.
Similarly, Bhojpur Municipality resident Kamal Tamang said many households are already relocating as monkeys destroy newly transplanted rice seedlings and other crops. “It’s no longer possible to grow food for ourselves,” he said. “Even when we guard the fields day and night, they still find a way to destroy everything.”
Monkeys are also raiding maize cobs, rice panicles, and fruits from orchards, forcing farmers to spend much of their time building makeshift watch huts to protect their land. In some families, two to three members dedicate all their time to guarding crops. Farmers say even noise-making devices and scare tactics are no longer effective, as monkeys have grown used to them.
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