Nepal’s farmers carved farms into the Himalayas, but now this growing problem is destroying their harvests and triggering a wildlife crisis

For generations, farmers in Nepal’s mid-hills have transformed steep Himalayan slopes into productive farmland by building terraces that hold soil and water in place. But today, many of these communities are facing a growing challenge from wildlife, particularly rhesus macaques that increasingly enter farms and feed on crops.

Maize, millet, rice, potatoes and legumes form an important part of household food supplies and rural incomes. When troops of macaques enter cultivated fields, they can destroy a significant portion of a harvest in a short period. Wild boars and Indian crested porcupines are also contributing to crop losses in several areas.

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The problem is becoming particularly difficult for villages already experiencing labour shortages and rural out-migration. With younger residents leaving for education and employment, fewer people are available to cultivate fields or spend hours protecting crops from wildlife.

Why are macaques entering Nepal’s farmland?

Wildlife has always shared Nepal’s mid-hill landscape with farming communities, but the boundary between natural habitat and cultivated land is becoming increasingly blurred in some areas.

Rhesus macaques are among the most persistent crop raiders. Troops can enter farmland in large numbers, forcing farmers to remain nearby and chase the animals away using sticks, slings and noise-making devices.

Other animals follow different patterns. Wild boars can damage crops and disturb soil, while Indian crested porcupines are primarily active at night, making them particularly difficult for farmers to deter.

For households dependent on their own harvest, such damage can have consequences well beyond the loss of a few plants. A smaller maize harvest, for example, can mean less food for the family and less produce to sell.

Nepal could have more than 100,000 rhesus macaques in the mid-hills

The scale of the macaque population provides some indication of why encounters with farmers are becoming more frequent.

A survey by Nepal’s National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) recorded 20,395 rhesus macaques across 44 areas where human-wildlife conflict was considered particularly serious. When the wider mid-hill landscape was taken into account, the organisation estimated that the population could exceed 104,000.

Research published in the American Journal of Primatology found that cultivated crops accounted for about 49% of the annual diet of wild macaques studied in a forest-farm landscape in central Nepal.

This suggests that farmland can provide a regular food source rather than merely serving as a fallback when food in forests becomes scarce.

Farmers could lose half their maize harvest to monkey raids

The economic impact can be significant for rural households.

According to NTNC figures from 1,846 surveyed households, annual crop losses attributed to wildlife were estimated at around US$327,000. In some communities, farmers reported losing approximately half of their maize harvest to monkey raids.

The impact varies from one location to another. In Palpa district, 85% of 73 randomly selected farmers said wildlife damage had increased over the previous five years.

For farmers already dealing with rising costs and limited labour, repeated crop losses can make agriculture increasingly difficult to sustain.

Rural migration is making wildlife protection harder

The human side of the conflict is closely connected to migration.

Younger people in Nepal’s rural communities are increasingly moving towards towns and cities for education, employment and better access to healthcare and other services. As a result, fewer working-age residents remain in some villages to cultivate and protect farmland.

This creates a difficult cycle. Fields that are cultivated less frequently or left unattended can become easier targets for wildlife. At the same time, repeated crop losses can make farming less attractive, potentially encouraging more people to leave.

Research from Mangalsen Municipality in Achham district has examined the relationship between monkey and wild boar damage, declining agricultural productivity and rural out-migration.

For older farmers who remain, protecting crops can become a daily responsibility rather than an occasional task.

Farmers spend hours chasing macaques away

When macaques approach a field, farmers often have to abandon other work to drive them away.

A troop may move from one field to another, meaning farmers have to follow and repeatedly attempt to deter the animals. The effort can consume hours during the growing season.

Night-time crop damage presents a different challenge. Porcupines can enter fields after dark when farmers are no longer present, while wild boars can cause extensive damage as they search for food.

Frustration has led some communities to adopt dangerous methods. NTNC has documented incidents involving mass drownings and high-voltage traps, highlighting the risks created when repeated crop losses go unmanaged.

Many affected farmers do not know about compensation

Nepal has a compensation mechanism intended to support people affected by wildlife damage. However, awareness of the scheme remains a major issue.

The NTNC reported that around 80% of affected farmers surveyed did not know they were eligible to claim compensation.

Improving awareness and making the claims process easier could therefore form an important part of efforts to reduce the financial burden on farming households.

Could Nepal’s forests be part of the macaque problem?

Researchers have also examined whether changes in forest composition could be influencing macaque behaviour.

Sabina Koirala, a PhD researcher studying human-monkey conflict, has pointed towards Nepal’s reforestation efforts during the 1970s as one possible factor.

Large areas were planted with fast-growing Australian pine as part of efforts to increase forest cover. While such plantations contributed to expanding tree cover, pine forests may not offer macaques the same diversity of edible resources as native forests.

Koirala has suggested that changes in the composition of forests may have reduced the availability of natural food in some areas, potentially encouraging macaques to venture into nearby agricultural land.

However, wildlife behaviour is influenced by several factors, including food availability, habitat changes, human activity and local population dynamics. The relationship therefore requires further study.

Native fruit trees could help keep macaques away from farms

One potential solution is to improve the availability of natural food within forest habitats.

Planting native fruit-bearing trees could provide macaques with additional food away from agricultural fields, potentially reducing their reliance on crops. Researchers have suggested habitat enrichment as one possible tool for managing human-monkey conflict.

Other approaches include encouraging less wildlife-attractive crops, establishing community patrols and improving access to compensation schemes.

No single measure is likely to solve the problem across Nepal. Different communities face different combinations of wildlife pressure, farming practices, forest conditions and labour shortages.

Why Nepal’s human-wildlife conflict is difficult to solve

The conflict between farmers and wildlife reflects a much bigger change taking place across Nepal’s mid-hills.

Wildlife populations, forest recovery, changing land use and rural migration are interacting in ways that can place additional pressure on agricultural communities. Protecting biodiversity while ensuring that farming households can continue to make a living requires solutions that account for both sides of the problem.

Much of the existing research has focused on individual communities or relatively small study areas. More large-scale evidence is still needed to determine which combination of habitat management, crop protection, compensation and community-based measures can consistently reduce crop losses across Nepal’s diverse mid-hill landscapes.

For farmers maintaining terraces carved into steep Himalayan slopes, however, the challenge is already immediate: keeping a harvest safe while learning to share an increasingly crowded landscape with wildlife.


Inputs from agencies