Nepal enlists AI to help fight against crop-raiding macaques

In central Nepal, farmers and rhesus macaques are locked in a growing conflict, prompting researchers to explore artificial intelligence-based systems to detect and deter the monkeys, Praveen Kumar Yadav reported for Mongabay. A 2026 study found that nearly half of the diet of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in a central Nepal region consists of cultivated crops. In villages such as Birta Deurali, farmers take turns guarding their fields every two hours, Yadav noted.

To ease the burden, researchers in Nepal are developing AI-driven solutions. Progress Jung Thapa, a researcher at Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology, has created a system using cameras and lightweight computing devices trained on over 4,000 annotated images. The system accurately detects monkeys and their behavior, such as movement, feeding, or vigilance, with 88% accuracy across 28 field trials.

Thapa explained, "If a monkey is still watching, the farmer has time. If it is already feeding, the response has to be immediate. A machine can detect, but a human decides."

Once a threat is identified, the system sends an alert directly to the farmer's phone. Meanwhile, Santosh Giri, an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University, is working on a prototype that combines AI detection with an ultrasonic deterrent to repel monkeys. However, the deterrent system has yet to be tested in actual farm environments. Both Thapa and Giri acknowledged that adapting these technologies to field conditions poses challenges, such as poor visibility due to rain.