Agri-solar: A sustainable approach to wild boar management in agricultural crops of Telangana

Wild boars (Sus scrofa) pose a severe threat to agriculture in Telangana, causing yield losses of 20-45 % in unprotected fields and significant economic loss to farmers. Traditional deterrents such as scarecrows, saree fencing and manual guarding have been largely ineffective, providing only 5-10 % reduction in crop damage. Field demonstrations of agri-solar fencing conducted from 2021 to 2023 across ten agro-ecological locations of Telangana revealed that treated plots recorded 0 % crop damage, while control plots showed an average of 29.1 % damage. Yields in treated fields were significantly higher: rice (8024 vs. 6800 kg/ha), maize (8025 vs. 1620 kg/ha in Nagarkurnool; 7506 vs. 4125 kg/ha in Rajendranagar), groundnut (3625 vs. 1120 kg/ha), red gram (2032 vs. 1450 kg/ha) and black gram (1504 vs. 800 kg/ha). The incremental cost-benefit ratio (ICBR) ranged from 1:0.98 in rice to 1:6.97 in groundnut, confirming the economic feasibility of the technology. Farmers also reported indirect benefits such as reduced labour, improved household security and less dependence on manual guarding. The study underscores agri-solar fencing as a sustainable, non-lethal and scalable solution for mitigating wildlife conflict and improving farm incomes in semi-arid regions of Telangana.