Bindramaya Rai of Panchkanya Tole, Pakhribas-3, Dhankuta, heads to her fields before sunrise. Her main task is to chase away monkeys rather than tending to her crops.

She says that if she doesn't patrol the area with a slingshot, a stick and a stick all day, she will soon run out of corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and vegetables. 'Herding monkeys is a bigger job than farming,' she said. 'If you leave it for a moment, it will destroy everything.' Bindramaya's house is at the end of the settlement. As soon as they come out of the forest, the monkeys reach her fields.'

Sarita Jimi from Okhre village in Pakhrivas is in a similar situation. She says that the monkeys, which were previously limited to corn and squash, have now started damaging garlic, onions and cardamom. 'It is difficult to save the crops and cook them,' she said. 'They even uproot and throw away the cardamom and garlic.'

Bindramaya and Sarita are just representative characters who are tormented by the monkeys' suffering. In most villages of Dhankuta, farmers spend their daily lives chasing monkeys. They are more concerned about protecting them than planting crops. Many farmers are frustrated by the monkey problem and the damage it is causing.

Meghraj Khatiwada of Teliya says that the fields where his family of 15 used to live have now been left barren. 'It is no longer possible to cultivate and eat, monkeys enter the house and look for food,' he said. He said that due to the shortage of manpower, it is impossible to protect the crops planted from wild animals. The terror of monkeys has reduced the indigenous production of the village. Some farmers have chosen low-risk crops. He said that monkeys have spread more when trees are left to grow on vacant land.

As the elections approach, leaders are visiting villages and making promises of development. In every election, the commitment to control monkeys, install fences, provide compensation, and manage wildlife is repeated. But farmers have the experience that the problems remain the same after the election. 'We heard the same thing five years ago, now they are making the same speech again,' said leading farmer Khatiwada, 'After winning, they forget the village.'

This time too, the candidates have made the monkey terror an election issue. Nepali Communist Party's House of Representatives candidate Dharmaraj Poudel has put forward a plan to control monkeys by amending the law and raise monkeys commercially and export their meat and dried meat abroad.

He has announced at a press conference that monkey meat and dried meat can be exported abroad. Congress candidate Dinesh Rai and UML candidate Rajendra Rai have also pledged to bring special programs to protect farmers' crops. Independent candidates have also made solving farmers' problems their main agenda.

Although the party's manifesto prioritizes big projects like roads, bridges and buildings, they complain that the daily problems of farmers are being overlooked. 'There is no profit from farming, only loss,' complained Dik Bahadur Giri, another farmer from Telia.