West Bengal is seeing rising human-elephant conflict as herds increasingly raid paddy, corn, mustard, potato and vegetable fields.
Farmers in districts such as Jhargram, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Jalpaiguri say crop losses are pushing families into debt.
Elephant numbers have risen in both south and north Bengal, while shrinking and fragmented habitats are forcing herds closer to farms and villages.
Community-led Quick Response Teams in parts of north Bengal have helped reduce crop damage through night patrols, walkie-talkie alerts and corridor monitoring.
Experts say fencing, compensation and short-term diversion measures will not be enough unless elephant corridors are protected and habitats restored.
“Elephants entered our agricultural fields a few nights ago and completely damaged the harvest — potato, mustard and all. I am clueless how I will be able to run my family in the coming days,” said Amar Mandal, name changed on request, a resident of Goswamipur village in Bankura district. A herd of elephants raided the area during the third week of January, eating a major part of the harvest and damaging the rest.
“Most farmers run on loans, and the impact of elephant raiding on the harvest is enormous. Bigha after bigha of land was lost and the government has not done anything effective to stop the elephants,” the farmer said. He alleged that the compensation offered by the forest department was too low and often came too late.
Some months ago, a herd of around 12 elephants caused major damage in Sankrail block of Jhargram district, traditionally known as a hotspot of human-elephant conflict in southern West Bengal. Major parts of north Bengal have been equally affected.
West Bengal may have around 2 per cent of India’s elephant population, but it is among the states with extremely high levels of human-elephant conflict, including agricultural loss. “Elephant-human conflict, particularly elephants raiding crops, has now become a common event in several south Bengal districts such as Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia,” said Mukti Roy, an elephant expert and researcher at the Indian Institute of Science.
The situation is similar in the northern part of the state, where elephant raids have become a menace in several districts, including Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Darjeeling, particularly areas such as Kurseong, Baikunthapur, Dhupguri, tea gardens and places adjacent to the India-Nepal border.
Experts say, and the forest department agrees, that elephants have changed their food habits, shifting from grass to crops such as paddy and corn, which are more nutritious and easily available in agricultural fields.
“Though the damage in a few areas could be minimised through a range of actions, particularly the deployment of Quick Response Teams, or QRTs, to stop elephant influx into agricultural lands, still, in these areas, 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the harvesting zones suffer damage,” said Anujit Basu, an elephant expert from the non-profit Nature and Wildlife Association, or NWA, which works in north Bengal.
Roy said the major crop damage had been near elephant corridors and river plains. He and several farmers said that, apart from elephants, wild boars also raid and damage farms, though elephants are responsible for the maximum damage.
State forest department officials agree that the problem of elephants affecting agricultural land has been serious and shows no sign of decline.
“With elephant numbers reaching around 800 in the state, and elephants showing signs of change in their food habits, preferring harvested crops, the problem is on the rise,” said a senior forest official.
“In south Bengal, the number of elephants was 96 in 2005. This rose to 210 in 2025, with several from Jharkhand and Odisha choosing to stay back in Bengal permanently,” said an expert.
“The number in north Bengal is now around 630, which has also doubled in the last two decades. With habitats shrinking and the number of elephants rising, the threat is rising every day,” the expert said.
As a result, the forest department has to pay large amounts in compensation every year — around Rs 10 crore annually. “We spent around Rs 12.7 crore during 2023-24, Rs 10.17 crore during 2024-25 and Rs 6.15 crore during the ongoing financial year so far,” a forest department official said.
“Though the amount includes compensation for human lives and hut damage, agricultural loss dominates the compensation amount,” the official added.
In 2014-15, the forest department paid Rs 5.8 crore in elephant-related compensation, indicating that the amount has almost doubled within a decade.
The forest department said it has taken several measures to combat the problem. “We have formed an Elephant Movement Coordination Committee and monitor the animals daily, formed Rapid Response Teams, alerted people in affected areas through bulk SMSes, employed eight specially equipped vehicles called Airawat for the human-elephant impact zones, installed solar-powered fencing over 339km to stop wild animals entering vulnerable villages and strengthened the communication network,” a senior official said.
“While the forest department is undertaking a few steps, unless key decisions such as strengthening elephant habitats and stopping encroachment within elephant corridors are considered, it will be difficult to reduce human-elephant conflict, particularly the widespread damage of crops in the state,” said a wildlife activist.
Community-driven initiatives, coupled with forest department efforts, are playing a key role in keeping elephant herds away from agricultural fields in parts of north Bengal. “In a few vulnerable areas, people of the community, with our help, have formed a Quick Response Team to monitor fields at night and stop elephants from damaging crops,” said Basu.
He said coordinated action by community teams, using walkie-talkies that work within a range of 5 km to 7 km, is used to communicate the direction of moving herds.
Local farmers say the initiative has been successful so far.
Ganesh Ray, a farmer from Nagrakata block in Jalpaiguri district, cultivates paddy, mustard, jute and vegetables on 14 bighas of land. He said he faced elephant attacks a few years ago, but not anymore. “Since these QRTs have been operating, the damage has been curtailed by nearly 90 per cent or more. In fact, many who stopped cultivating because of the elephant menace have restarted farming,” Ray said. He said earlier around 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the crop used to get damaged.
Alak Oraon from Kranti block in Jalpaiguri district agreed. “We have six bighas of forest-fringe land where we cultivate paddy and vegetables. Since the QRTs started operating, the damage from elephants has been reduced to one-tenth, though wild boars continue to be a problem,” he said. “Being smaller in size, they often escape the monitoring.”
Ray said that, apart from intense monitoring, keeping elephant corridors free from encumbrances also helped keep elephants away from habitation.
Biswajit Roy Choudhury from the non-profit NEWS, which works with the state forest department on elephants in north Bengal, said it was critical to plant grass varieties in forests that elephants prefer as fodder.
“We have found that in many elephant habitats and corridors, quick-growing exotic grass varieties were planted earlier, which elephants do not prefer as fodder because they have sharp edges,” he said.
“We are experimenting by trying to replace those in a few areas with grasses such as Imperata cylindrica, locally called ulu grass, which are expected to be preferred by elephants. The initial results are encouraging,” he added.
South Bengal, despite having fewer elephants, is struggling more than north Bengal to protect farmland from the animals.
Experts say there are several reasons. First, south Bengal’s elephant habitat is not only small for around 200 elephants, but also fragmented and of poor quality, with less fodder. Second, in south Bengal, elephants venture into localities almost throughout the year. Unlike north Bengal, they always find food because most areas have harvests through the year.
In north Bengal, elephant incursions are mostly limited to mid-May to the end of July for corn, while paddy-linked movement ranges from mid-September to November. Occasionally, lone elephants raid houses during December and January.
Third, while elephants in north Bengal usually come out of the forest only after sundown, in south Bengal they often enter localities during the daytime, making monitoring more difficult.
However, the West Bengal Forest Department has developed “elephant micro-habitats” in south Bengal, particularly in Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram, where fodder and water are provided during peak straying periods. The aim is to reduce the need for elephants to enter villages. Officials claim the model has been working.
“Barjora is an example. Despite elephants staying for a higher number of days between 2020 and 2025 — 5,294 days — compared with 2014-2019, when elephant herds stayed for 4,421 days, crop damage decreased from 6,135 hectares to 3,343 hectares during 2020-25, underlining the success of the model,” claimed a forest official.
However, experts claim that though the model may work for a short time but for a long lasting solution, such a diversionary mechanism will not stand.
This article is part of the series Conflict in the Backyard. A version of it was published in the cover story, Conflict in the Backyard, in the May 16-31, 2026 print issue of Down To Earth.