Udayapur, May 8 -- Chakra Bahadur Magrati of Bhadaure, Tapli Rural Municipality-5, in the remote hilly region of Udayapur, has been forced to abandon the fields he spent a lifetime tilling, along with his ancestral home and village. He was left with no choice after monkeys began raiding his annual harvests of paddy, maize, millet, fruits and vegetables every year. Despite trying various deterrents, his crops could not be saved, leading the Magrati family to migrate to Kirtipur in Kathmandu.

He currently earns a living through daily wage labour. "Farming was our life, but the monkeys never let us gather the harvest," Magrati said, expressing his distress. "When months of hard work are wiped out in an instant, there is no alternative but t...