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VOL. 6, ISSUE 4 (2021)
Jungle cats-are they beneficial or harmful to the farmers of rural West Bengal?
Authors
Tanima Choudhury, Narayan Ghorai, Tanmoy Ghosh, Ajay Ghosh, Utpal Hazra
Abstract
Jungle cats have both positive and negative impacts on the lives of the farmers. They kill rodents and reduce the amount of crops destroyed by the rodents. In this study the Indian mole rat was observed to cause a loss of 238 kg/hectare of paddy and 5549.66 kg/hectare of potato. More paddy was collected by the rodents during the winter than in the summer. The rodents caused an economic loss of ₹ 5331.2 per hectare from rice and ₹ 106993.3 per hectare from potatoes. A total of ₹ 112324.5 was lost per hectare due to rodent activity. Studies have revealed that jungle cats consume 3-5 rodents per day, thereby reducing the rodent population and saving the farmers’ money. Jungle cats also kill poultry birds in the agricultural villages. The study had revealed that only 23% of total poultry kept were lost due to jungle cat predation. Jungle cats killed 55.33+ 28.3 chickens and 112.33+ 27.42 ducks per year. Analysis of the data showed that more ducks were killed by the jungle cats than chickens. A total ₹ 47533.33 was lost from poultry bird deaths due to jungle cat predation. The economic loss caused by the rodents was more than twice the economic loss caused by the jungle cats. Comparing both impacts it seemed that the positive impact had far outweighed the negative impact of the jungle cats in the agricultural fields.
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Pages:49-52
How to cite this article:
Tanima Choudhury, Narayan Ghorai, Tanmoy Ghosh, Ajay Ghosh, Utpal Hazra "Jungle cats-are they beneficial or harmful to the farmers of rural West Bengal? ". International Journal of Entomology Research, Vol 6, Issue 4, 2021, Pages 49-52
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