Sri Lanka count monkeys peacocks in census to curb crop damage

Colombo, Mar 15 (PTI) Sri Lanka on Saturday successfully conducted the first-ever island-wide census to count monkeys, squirrels, and peacocks to tackle agricultural losses caused by them.
    The census conducted this morning was a success with wide participation, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Namal Karunaratna told reporters.
    “I participated myself and saw enthusiastic participation," Karunaratna said.
    Between 8 and 8.05 am each household was asked to fill in a form to give data on the number of Toque monkeys, purple-faced langurs, giant squirrels and peacocks.
    “Data gathering was the main purpose," Karunaratna added.
    "The data would be used to counter the threat faced by crops from animals," Karunaratna said.
    The minister stated that the compiled data would be provided to the Department of Agriculture.
    Some 40,000 state officials at the grassroots conducted the census.
    Agriculture officials said that a 30 billion rupee crop damage was found to have been caused by animals in a survey conducted in 2022 over 6 months.
    The census went ahead despite condemnation by certain farmer organisations who had called it a farce.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)