ELEPHANT FOOD BANK: A SOLUTION FOR HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT - CHAN

By Kamarul Halim M Kamal

KLUANG, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- The "Elephant Food Bank" project in Johor will be used as a testing ground to find a long-term solution to human-elephant conflict in agricultural areas and settlements at jungle fringes.

Deputy Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin said the project, also known as the elephant feeding area, is managed by the Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) in collaboration with plantation stakeholders.

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He said Johor has three food bank locations for the pachyderms: Kampung Orang Asli Kudung, Muntahak and Ladang Landak and each food bank location, with an area of over 1 hectare, planted with banana trees and Napier grass was opened last year.

"We (the ministry) were informed by Perhilitan that they planted banana trees and Napier grass because both are the favourite food of the mammals,

"If the project proves successful and can reduce the elephant-human conflict, we will also implement it in collaboration with Perhilitan in other states," he told Bernama after visiting the Ladang Landak Elephant Food Project in Paloh, near here, today.

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He explained that creating the feeding area would enable elephants to concentrate in a particular location to look for food and not disturb crops, especially palm oil planted at the jungle fringe.

"The elephants will choose to eat the pulp of newly planted oil palm trees if there is no other food available, and we need to avoid this, which is why the elephant food bank was implemented.

"Apart from this food bank for elephants, in Johor I understand that the state government has also established the Johor Elephant Sanctuary (JES) and implemented cooperation with stakeholders such as the plantation owner, which is KLK Bhd (owner of the Landak Farm)," he said.

Meanwhile, Perhilitan Johor records showed that from 2020 to August 2024, a total of 510 elephant-human conflict complaints were reported involving six districts, namely Mersing with 181 cases; Kluang (160); Kota Tinggi (111); Segamat (39); Batu Pahat (12) and Johor Bahru (7).

-- BERNAMA