In what may be the largest wildlife translocation yet attempted in India, Madhya Pradesh’s forest department moved more than 900 blackbuck and nilgai (blue bull) to protected areas across the state in November last year. For over a month, a specially equipped low-flying helicopter swept over villages in Shajapur district, driving the animals into temporary enclosures before they were transported to Rani Durgavati Tiger Reserve, Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and Kuno National Park. The exercise was meant to address a long-standing grievance. Farmers in Shajapur had for over a year complained of heavy crop losses caused by marauding wildlife, says Beerendra Kumar Patel, a divisional forest officer. He estimates that 15,000 antelopes roamed the region, largely across revenue land with little forest cover.
Down To Earth (DTE) visited the villages a month later, only to find that the relief was fleeting. Farmers say blackbuck and nilgai are only two among several species that raid fields with wearying regularity—often round the clock. “Our crops are repeatedly ravaged by peacocks, deer, macaques, stray cattle and wild boar,” says Suresh Parmar, a farmer from Arnia Kalan village in Kalapipal tehsil of Shajapur. Rakesh Parmar of Piliya village in Sehore tehsil, who farms 12 hectares, says animals descend on fields at all hours and in every season, ruining crops ranging from gram and potatoes to groundnut, maize, red lentils, soya bean, millets and even wheat, once considered less palatable to herbivores. Awadh Parmar from the same village estimates losses at 40 per cent or more, depending on the stage at which crops are hit and the species involved. “Wild boar, for instance, come in the evening, digging up the soil and destroying entire plantations. They may not eat potatoes, but they uproot them across the field,” Parmar says. Deer, nilgai and other ungulates arrive in large herds. “Imagine 50 to 100 animals trampling crops, flattening 4 hectares in half an hour.”
Over the past six months, DTE has travelled across a dozen states to capture the scale of the conflict, only to find the same story of lost crops, livelihoods and rising indebtedness. In many places farmers are simply quitting agriculture.
In arid Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, frustration among farmers runs deep. Chandan Singh Rajput from Patha village of Chhatarpur district has vowed to abandon farming and move to Delhi in search of wage labour if he cannot save his crops this season. Rajput has leased 20 bighas (just over three hectares) in a neighbouring village for Rs 85,000 a year. To protect the crop, he lives in a makeshift hut in the field and keeps watch day and night. “Even a small lapse means total destruction,” he says, pointing to fresh ...
This article was originally published as part of the cover story Conflict in the backyard in the May 16-31, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth