Guwahati | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded an innovative way to tackle man-elephant conflict in Assam’s Nagaon district by planting a particular type of grass to feed the jumbos and save crops.

The venture of the villagers in Nagaon was praised by Modi in his monthly Mann ki Baat broadcast.

Sharing an audio clip featuring the ‘Haathi Bandhu’ (friends of the elephant) initiative on X, the prime minister said: “An effort in Assam’s Nagaon to reduce man-animal conflict has the power to motivate everyone.”

Modi said that Nagaon, with a sizeable elephant population, was facing man-elephant conflict as the pachyderms were destroying crops while in search of food.

He said though the people of about 100 villages in the vicinity were worried over the damage to crops, the villagers also understood that the elephants were turning to the fields to satisfy their hunger.

A team of villagers was constituted and named ‘Haathi Bandhu’, which came out with an innovative idea.

They brought the villagers together to plant Napier grass, a type preferred by the elephants, on about 800 bighas of barren land in the area.

“As a result, elephants started visiting the fields less frequently, bringing much relief to thousands of villagers. It seems that the elephants have also loved it,” the PM added.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in another post on X, said the initiative has helped the farmers of Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts.

“A while back Adarniya Shri @narendramodi ji spoke about the Hathibandhu initiative of Assam in his #MannKiBaat address. The initiative is a natural solution to reduce man-elephant conflicts,” Sarma said.

“30 hectares of pvt land has been planted with napier grass in Nagaon & Karbi Anglong,” he said.

Man-elephant conflict has been a major issue in Assam, with the pachyderms venturing into human habitations in search of food, officials said.