Localities deal with rice-destroying rats

(Baonghean.vn) - Warm weather is a good condition for spring rice to grow and develop well. However, at present, farmers also have to face the problem of rats destroying rice.

Currently, spring rice in Dien Chau is entering the panicle formation period but many areas are damaged by rats. According to statistics from Dien Chau Plant Protection Station, the area of ​​spring rice damaged by rats is increasing rapidly. From only about 100 hectares in early March, it has now increased to 177.4 hectares. Of which, 19.9 hectares are severely damaged with 10-20 stalks damaged, the remaining area is damaged by 3-7% of the stalks.

Members of the Dien Ngoc Plant Protection and Service Team, Dien Chau, launched a campaign to kill rats. Photo: Mai Giang

The fields near the village, near the railway, and high hills are most damaged because rats concentrate on making burrows there. It is the breeding season, so rats multiply very quickly. To protect the spring rice, cooperatives in Dien Chau are strongly mobilizing people to fight rats by setting traps, using bait, and digging burrows. Communes also allocate additional funds from the budget to help people actively prevent rats from causing harm in the fields.

Meanwhile, in the fields of Hoang Mai, many rice fields were gnawed by rats, with plants broken. People proactively set traps, released bait and erected scarecrows to chase away rats.

In Quynh Vinh commune, the area damaged by rats is scattered in large and small patches on about 70-80 hectares. The commune has supported farmers with 14,000 VND per sao of rice to buy microbiological rat bait. At the same time, each village and hamlet mobilized people to organize a campaign to clear bushes, dig shelters around the edges of the fields, in the village lanes with the hope of being able to completely eradicate rats not only this spring crop but also to avoid rat damage in the following crops.

Setting traps is a way for people to kill rats and protect crops. Photo: Mai Giang

Or in Quynh Xuan ward, right from the beginning of the season, at the meetings, the ward members agreed that for each sao of rice area, each household must kill at least 5 rats. If they do not kill the rats themselves, they will have to contribute 20 thousand VND per sao for the cooperative to organize the placement of bait and hire people to dig holes to kill the rats.

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Thuy - Head of the Economic Department of Hoang Mai Town said: Currently, the rice is in the panicle formation period, so it is impossible to recover the number of stalks bitten by rats, which will affect the rice yield. In this year's production season, the town did not develop a mechanism to support damage caused by rats, but directly and closely instructed communes and wards to proactively take measures suitable to their local conditions.

Along with that, farmers also need to be proactive in visiting the fields, regularly checking the growth and development of rice plants to promptly prevent and treat infected rice areas, and properly follow the instructions and recommendations of agricultural extension officers to avoid disease outbreaks and widespread damage./.

Mai Giang - Nguyen Van