By Salik Ansar | Project Manager
Facilitating human-elephant coexistence in Asia
From Conflict to Coexistence: You’re Making a Difference!
During this reporting period, the project continued to make encouraging progress, with regular monitoring of all 124 participating farmer sites. Local orange and lime plants recorded a survival rate of approximately 98%, while moringa plants achieved around 80%. Notably, some local orange plants have already produced their first yield, marking an important milestone for the project.
As June to September is typically the dry season in Udawalawe, the field team worked closely with farmers to encourage proper irrigation practices and ensure the healthy growth of the distributed crops.
Meanwhile, the ongoing global fuel crisis has increased transportation and agricultural costs, contributing to higher prices for vegetables and fruits. Farmers continue to face challenges in cultivating and distributing their produce, placing additional pressure on rural households. Despite these difficulties, the project remains on track, with continued monitoring and crop maintenance aimed at strengthening livelihoods and promoting long-term human-elephant coexistence.
Alternative Crop Project: 124 farmers with over 95% crop success
With your continued support our project activities focused on crop monitoring, farmer engagement, and financial support to participating households. To date, over 15,000 saplings have been planted across the 124 participating farmer sites. The field team conducted regular visits to assess crop health and guide farmers on maintenance practices. Despite the prolonged dry season and subsequent heavy rainfall, the crops have become more established and are showing encouraging progress.
Cash stipend payments to all farming households were completed in August, while distribution to the non-farming group remains ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Local orange and lime crops continue to show promising growth, with the first flowering anticipated around January 2027 and initial harvests expected around June–July 2027, provided weather conditions remain favorable. Moringa growth will continue to be monitored closely as the project works to strengthen rural livelihoods and promote human-elephant coexistence.
Behavioral Study: Phase 4 completed!
The field team conducted the final field visit for the current behavioral study. We plan to continue this research in the coming years, with the field team prepared to lead future monitoring activities. A partnership has also been established with the University of Colombo to support data storage, uploads, and further analysis.
Camera traps installed outside identified elephant corridors will remain operational until the end of November 2026 to gather additional data on elephant movements. The team has also planned five community pocket meetings involving all 124 participating farming households. The first meeting was held during this period, sharing project updates and selected research findings. Camera-trap footage generated considerable interest among farmers. The coming months will focus on completing the remaining meetings, continuing monitoring, and strengthening our capacity to independently sustain the research.
Updates from our field office
Our field office now has a stable and reliable internet connection, resolving the ongoing connectivity challenges associated with our remote location in Udawalawe. This has significantly improved our ability to back up valuable field data, upload monitoring photos, and manage project documentation efficiently. Additionally, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Ravi back to the team. Having previously worked with us, Ravi brings valuable experience, particularly in electrical work and elephant identification. His technical skills and knowledge of elephants will be a great asset to our field operations, and we are delighted to have him rejoin the team.
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