Try living next to a tiger reserve. If the carnivores don’t get you the herbivores will! That's the plight of farmers living in three small ‘adivasi’ (indigenous people) villages around a tiger reserve in Maharashtra.

Herds of deer and wild boar wander out of the forest, ruining their carefully tended paddy. Tiger then stalk these herds scaring terror-stricken villagers off their fields. Farmers sit up all night on ‘machans’ (raised platforms) and keep up a feverish beat of drums to protect their crops from the herbivores and themselves from the carnivores.

Now a local NGO has stepped in to help. “We got the idea from a DM project in Africa that grew chillies to ward off rampaging elephants,” said a representative. But, chillies won’t work in India as the monkeys ruin these plants. “So, we decided to grow citronella – an aromatic grass which the deer won’t touch.”

Citronella oil can fetch farmers a good price, and what remains is good fodder for their cattle. Village cattle won’t then graze illegally on forest lands which they otherwise tend to do. The grass doesn’t need much water to grow - and water is a problem in these rainfed areas. It doesn't need to be looked after either, so farmers are spared many a hair-razing experience of unexpectedly staring a tiger in the face.