KOZHIKODE: Marauding jumbos are inadvertently making Malabar the rising star in the state's rubber plantation landscape. Faced with surging menace from crop-raiding wild animals, ranging from elephants and wild boars to monkeys, farmers are switching to rubber cultivation on a large scale in the hilly stretch bordering Western Ghats forests in the Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur districts. According to rubber board officials, the five Malabar districts now account for a significant 80% of the new area that is brought under rubber cultivation...
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