A Guy’s View: The monkey challenge
Last week I spoke of the importance of doing more to feed ourselves. After that offering, a question was asked of me: how does one manage to reap the food crops grown when monkeys continue to be terribly destructive of farmers’ crops? There was a big regional agriculture conference here last week: did any solutions come out of it?
It is impossible not to recognise the challenge that monkeys pose to crop farmers, whether one refers to those who farm on a commercial scale or the person who works a little kitchen garden. Both types of farmers also have to contend with monkeys of the two legged variety. While the four legged monkeys raid during the day, the two legged variety visit fields under the cloak of darkness.
Persons involved in agriculture have been debating how to deal with both monkeys for some time. At the highest level of decision making in the country, a legislative solution has been developed to deal with crop thieves. The effectiveness of this initiative will always depend on how closely the rules and procedures constructed therein are observed. Legislation usually follows a mischief which needs to be addressed, but no law can be effective if it is not followed by those it affects and policed by those who have the responsibility of enforcing it.
No one, however, has figured out how to tell the four legged monkeys that they should stop destroying farmers’ crops. Reason cannot be brought to bear on them.
The idea of culling has been raised. This is not new. There was a time when persons were encouraged to kill monkeys and present evidence of their kill by the presentation of tails, for which they were paid per tail. That practice apparently fell into disuse, maybe because the problem was brought under some semblance of control. Well, the problem is here again, but this time there are different ideas with respect to killing these animals.
Animal lovers and some international organisations, with no contact with this problem, have been effective in lobbying for restraint in dealing with this monkey problem. As a result, we have chosen to keep the problem, defeat the interest of our farmers and share our living space with the monkeys.
Every successful civilization or culture, especially when taking control of virgin territory or areas populated by a life form which is a challenge to the dominant interest, has taken action to settle this question in one way: elimination of the life form and the challenge. This has been true even when the life form was human. The colonization of our region and the taking of North America from the people who originally lived there are events in history that are well known to all of us.
The customary habitat of monkeys has been invaded by human development. We have built houses in their spaces and have not set aside any areas, or food, for them. The idea of planting our gullies with fruit trees has long been mentioned as one possible factor that could help but this suggestion has always been ignored.
When we stop monkeying around with the problem, we may well discover that we have no choice but to return to the culling of monkeys. Waiting will not solve the farmers’ problem. If there is an alternative, it should be put on the table and put into effect, but something must be done to protect the investments of our farmers and the gardens of our home owners.
Life is growing harder for ordinary Barbadians by the day. Persons are losing their jobs; increasing taxation is robbing those with jobs of more of their income, eating into what was previously disposable; inflation is increasing as prices continue to rise; and more. It is only sensible, therefore, for persons with a little land to try to grow some of what they need to eat. Backyard farming is indigenous to us and is something to which we may revert with little difficulty. But this would all come to naught if the ravenous monkeys continue to run amok and remain unchecked.
No one may have thought of this before, but there may now be some good use to which our young people may put their guns. This is a tongue in cheek comment, but if the authorities revert to the bounty for monkey tails, there should be no examination of how the monkey lost its tail.
Countries like Barbados are falling behind other nations because we seem to lack the ability to find solutions to our peculiar problems. When we speak of innovation we go straight to computerization and similar new technology developments. There is nothing wrong with that, but we may be better served if we were to address our minds to how we may solve the problems that confront us now. Increased food production and the effect of monkeys on our farming sector are two such challenges.
If we should not shoot the monkeys, how else may we control them? Can some device be developed to keep monkeys at bay without killing them? Do we need to limit our farming practices to greenhouse and other indoor farming? And when the monkeys cannot eat, how do we prevent them from invading our homes and restaurants in search of food?
While we contemplate these issues, one might consider a multipronged approach. The idea of planting fruit trees in gullies so that the monkeys may eat without interference with us or from us should be pursued. While some fruit trees take years to grow and mature, this may not be an insurmountable problem, for we have already been successful at producing hybrid trees that bear in a short time.
And then there are banana plants that mature a lot faster than some fruit trees. Populating gullies with a variety of food-bearing plants would be a useful step in keeping the monkeys in their reserved habitat.
But this may not be a complete solution to the immediate problem. Some culling, even if limited, may still be necessary. The bounty for tails may be considered again, or specialist hunters may be put to work to bring the population under control.
Trapping may be another useful technique, but this may have its limitations. In countries with reservations, where a population explodes, animals are trapped and relocated. That is not an option for us. We would merely be transferring the problem from one community to another.
The bottom line is that we need to grow more of what we eat and we cannot defeat that effort by not addressing significant challenges to its success. Thieves and monkeys are challenges that must be overcome. We may have taken effective steps to prevent praedial theft. We must now deal with the monkey challenge.