Wildlife drove farmers away, lemons bring them back

As crop damage by wild animals forces farmers to abandon traditional occupation and migrate, lemon farming emerges as a profitable and wildlife-resistant alternative across Bethanchok and Bhumlu rural municipalities.

Farmers in Phaimarang of Bethanchok Rural Municipality-1 in Kavrepalanchok were once busy growing maize during the monsoon and mustard and buckwheat in winter. But after 2013, farming these traditional crops became increasingly difficult as wild boars, porcupines, bears, and monkeys repeatedly destroyed fields before harvest.