Jammu: Farmers cultivate lemongrass to keep monkeys away
Aman Zutshi
Jammu: Many farmers in Udhampur area of Tikri which is monkey affected have switched to lemongrass cultivation as the scent of these crops have been found to be effective monkey repellants.
Due to the fear of monkeys the farmers in Udhampur’s Tikri left farming maize where monkeys come in search of food and destroy their crops.
The advantage of farming lemongrass is that monkeys and stray animals do not like the smell because oil and scent which comes out from the leaves drives them away. This way villagers are getting relief from lemongrass crop.
“Due to monkey menace we introduced lemongrass cultivation last year here in this area. There is 30 hectares of land under lemongrass cultivation because the farmers were disheartened to grows other crops fearing monkeys. The farmers were leaving their farming land empty.
“The monkeys don’t attack lemon grass. We get 1 quintal of lemongrass crop from 1kanal land from which 2.5-3 liter oil is extracted. If we sell this oil in open market it would be sold between Rs 2500-3000 per liter”, an agriculture department official said.
