Bangalore: Farmers on the fringes of forests will get 50 per cent subsidy to install solar-powered fencing for their farmland, Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment B. Ramanath Rai said on Tuesday.

He told presspersons here that solar fencing could be an effective means to prevent wild animals from straying into farmland and damaging standing crops. Thus man-animal conflict could be averted to an extent, the Minister said. He said the department was doing its best to protect wild animals on one hand and human habitats on the other.

While the department had been undertaking this project on its own for farmland and had set aside Rs. 55 crore for it, many farmers were not satisfied with the project. Hence the department had decided to provide farmers subsidy for installing solar fencing, the Minister said.

Another move to protect forest and wildlife was to dig cattle-proof trenches along the periphery of wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and reserve forests. The department would go ahead with this plan so as to secure the boundaries of protected forests as well as prevent wild animals from straying into human habitats, the Minister said. This would also help the department in clearing encroachments on forestland and knowing the boundaries of forests, Mr. Rai said.

The Forest Department was also planning to swap “dry” forestland, which do not have any vegetation, with Revenue Department land that had vegetation, he said.

The Forest Department was concerned about the Union government’s directive to expand forest cover from 22 per cent to 33 per cent, Mr. Rai said, and added that the plan to swap land with the Revenue Department was a step towards expanding the forest cover.

On clearing encroachments on Inam land around Kalasa in Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalur district, Mr. Rai said the department had been adhering to the Karnataka High Court order. Efforts would, however, be made to protect the interests of small and marginal farmers, he said.