Once the site of conflict has been identified and any immediate solutions to free up barriers to the elephants’ natural migration paths have been cleared, try to work out how much time or labour resources the individual has. When working on a budget, think about:
a) Initial purchase & transport costs of materials
b) Labour costs to install the deterrent
c) Maintenance and management costs into the future
If the individual doesn’t have a lot of time (i.e. he has a job away from his farm or tree plantation) that individual will typically need to be prepared to spend more funds on deterring elephants from his site of conflict. If an individual is a full time farmer or agronomist growing trees, they might be able to afford to spend more time and less income on their deterrent methods if they live and work on site and are able to respond immediately to approaching elephants.
Be wary of encouraging the use of expensive loans to construct deterrents to farms, property, or water tanks. If the farmer doesn’t have the ongoing resources to maintain that deterrent method it can quickly fall into disrepair and become useless and a waste of investment. Help them choose a combination of affordable methods that you know they can maintain for the long term. Photocopy or download & print the method sheets and leave with the farmer.