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Wild boar damage to crops in Gujarat often involved movement through fields

Indian wild boar in natural habitat
Conservation: Human–wildlife conflict, Management

Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) do not have to eat crops to damage them. As they move through fields, they can trample plants or bend them flat. Researchers in Gujarat, India, examined how much of the damage in local farmland came from feeding and how much from the animals’ movements.

Between September 2024 and October 2025, the researchers surveyed 143 fields in four parts of Vadodara district. They counted damaged plants in sample plots or across selected fields, depending on the crop, and interviewed farmers about the damage they had observed.

Maize and banana were among the most affected crops

The study reported around 15–16% damaged plants in the surveyed maize and pigeon-pea fields, and around 14% in banana, sorghum and pearl millet. Guava and citrus had much lower reported proportions, about 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. These were crop-specific samples, not a ranking of the plants that boars prefer. The percentages describe damaged plants in the surveyed fields, rather than the proportion of the harvest lost, and damage varied considerably between crops and sites.

In many fields, direct feeding caused relatively little damage. Trampling and plants flattened as the boars moved through the crops were much more important. Farmers also frequently pointed to the animals’ movement as a cause of damage. The researchers reported particularly noticeable damage after the monsoon and greater vulnerability near forest patches, riverine habitats and other places where boars could find cover.

The distinction matters when measuring conflict between wildlife and farming. Counting only crops eaten by Wild Boar can miss substantial damage caused by animals passing through fields. The researchers therefore argue that both kinds of damage should be considered when assessing losses and planning locally appropriate measures.

Sources and image credit

  1. Assessment of Crop Losses Due to Wild Boar, Sus scrofa Linnaeus in Cropping System of Vadodara District, IndiaPrimærartikkel med fulltekst. Beskriver studieområdene og perioden, felt- og intervjumetodene, skade på ulike vekster, forskernes tolkning og studiens avgrensninger.

Image: Indian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa cristatus) in Bandhavgarh. Photo: JP Bennett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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