Durian flowers fill the branches of trees in Normah Jaafar's orchard.
(Source: Berita DIMENSi / Syamira Liana)

SUNGKAI – Fear haunts the townspeople of Felda Gunung Besout as the fruit season approaches because they might not be able to taste their crops due to the damage that has been done by wild animals that have lost their habitat because of deforestation.

Due to exploration and logging that has been happening near the villagers’ house, these wild animals such as boars, monkeys and apes have lost their homes. This has caused the animals to run off and find another place to stay, which includes the trees of the fruit growers.

If they want to survive, these wild animals have to find new habitats. However, the relocation of this new habitat has caused the villagers in the nearby area to suffer because of crop damages.

According to one of the villagers, Normah Jaafar, 60, for four years they have not been able to taste the fruits that have been planted because of this wildlife.

“Over the past four years, after the forests nearby had been cut down, the villager’s crops were mostly damaged, caused by boars, monkeys and apes. There is a fruit orchard in my backyard. There are 22 cocoa trees, 18 durian trees, four rambutan trees, two mangosteen trees, and many more.

“All of my family members definitely would not taste all of the crops because the monkeys and apes will disturb the plants and eat the fruits,” she said to Berita DIMENSi via WhatsApp.

Before deforestation, the trees produced a lot of fruit and since there were so many yields, they sold it. However, they can no longer eat their crops and have to buy if they crave for it.

A monkey was in the residential area of the villagers.
(Source: Berita DIMENSi / Syamira Liana)

Another villager who shares the same problem, Norli Samsudin, 31, who said, the problem of crop damage such as vegetables and fruits caused by wild animals has haunted her family for the past few years.

“The problem of apes disturbing crops has been around for a long time. Since my son was still a kid, we no longer had the opportunity to eat the fruits of our crops.

“All these problems started from deforestation near the house area and some people mentioned it is because of the logging for the planting of palm oil trees,” she said to Berita DIMENSi via call interview.

Sharing the story again, Norli's husband had been working on a madu kelulut project in their house area but once again it was destroyed by apes.

Monkeys and apes did not only damage the crops, they also damaged the property.

“My neighbour’s house was entered by apes and monkeys, they entered through an existing hole or the roof and damaged the furniture and appliances in the house,” she added.

To curb this problem, the responsible parties whether the non-governmental organization (NGO) are being called to play their role to ensure the safety of the villagers and crops in Sungkai are protected from these wild animals.

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