Dhankuta, Feb. 6 -- Before sunrise each morning, Bindramaya Rai of Panchkanya settlement in ward 3 of Pakhribas Municipality heads to her fields, not primarily to tend crops but to chase away monkeys. Armed with a catapult and stick, she spends most of her day guarding maize, potatoes and vegetables from marauding troops descending from nearby forests.

"Farming has become less about growing crops and more about protecting it from monkeys. If we leave the field even briefly, everything is destroyed in no time," said Rai. Her struggle reflects a growing crisis across rural parts of Dhankuta, where farmers complain that monkey attacks have made agriculture increasingly unviable. Living at the edge of the settlement, her farmland is the firs...