Crop damage by blackbuck Antilope cervicapra at Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh

Manakadan, R.; Rahmani, A. R.

The paper discusses crop damage by blackbuck Antilope cervicapra at Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS), Andhra Pradesh, based on studies carried out during 1993-1994. Damage was recorded in 8 of the 20 crop species studied in the vicinity of the Sanctuary. Damage was high in foxtail millet, sorghum, and in the irrigated summer greengram and blackgram crops, moderate in redgram, groundnut and greengram (monsoon crop), low in cotton and minimal in sesamum. The extent of damage depended on many factors, which are discussed. Damage was negatively correlated to distance from the blackbuck area for five of the six species (except for cotton) studied. Except for sesamum, which is thrashed to the ground by male blackbuck, the other species are eaten. The damage recorded in cotton is likely to be due to livestock, and probably some of the damage recorded for the other crops could also have been contributed by livestock. Thus, it is advised that claims for crop damage compensation by farmers should be scrutinised carefully before approval. Measures to stop or reduce crop damage are suggested.