Guwahati : Forty beneficiaries from Dhaniya village on the fringe of Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) have been provided with lemon and betel nut saplings and Napier grass stumps and vermicompost tanks to help them opt for alternative crops to supplement their income.

The assistance was provided recently by biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) and Nagaon Wildlife Division with support from International Rhino Foundation (IRF).

These fringe villagers who reside close to the wildlife sanctuary, suffer crop damage because of wild animals from the sanctuary which often stray out. The villagers also tend to get overdependent on the sanctuary for grazing their cattle.

Aaranyak official Arif Hussain who coordinated the handing over of materials to the villagers, informed that lemon saplings were provided so that the selected villagers could raise a bio fence around their homestead against straying animals from the sanctuary.

“We have taken it up as a pilot project on bio fence while betel nut saplings are one-time investment that will provide economic benefits for the beneficiaries for a long time to come and wild animals usually don’t cause damage to betel nut plants,” the Aaranyak official said.

Napier grass stumps were provided to beneficiaries so that they can grow this as nutrition supplements to their cattle which will no longer required to be driven inside the sanctuary for grazing.

The vermicompost tanks will help the beneficiaries to produce organic manure with their easily available raw materials including cow dung. In the long run they may be able to gain sustained economic benefit from the practice which may be replicated by fellow villagers.

Officials from Dhaniya Range of Burhachapori Wildlife sanctuary were present on the occasion of handing over of the assistance to the villagers on July 25 last.