Making a living with paddy gathered from rat burrows

RAJSHAHI, Dec 15: Aymana Bewa, a resident of Shalgaria village in Rajshahi's Durgapur municipality area, collects paddy from rats' burrows to make a living when farmers are busy harvesting and threshing paddy during the Hemanta season.

The money from the sale of paddy supports the family of this 58-year-old poor woman for about 5 to 6 months a year.

Aymana Bewa said, "I lost my husband a long time ago. The only son who has a separate family with his wife does not look after me. As a result, I go to work in people's houses every morning. When the paddy season comes, I go to the fields in the morning and afternoon to look for rat holes. My family can pass half of the year with the paddy collected from the holes."

Apart from this, winter pitha is also eaten with this rice. For the rest of the year, the family runs almost amid pennilessness.

Data available with the Ministry of Agriculture shows every year in the country, rats damage crops to the tune of Tk5,000 million (Tk500 crore).

According to a study by the International Rice Research Institute, the amount of paddy-rice damaged by rats in Asia is equivalent to the annual food of 180 million (18 crore) people.

Rats in Bangladesh alone damages 5.0 to 5.4 million (50 to 54 lakh) people's food a year. Meanwhile, farmers said that they suffer frighteningly every year due to rat infestation.

Shamim Hossain, a farmer of Shalgaria village in Durgapur municipality area, said, "During the Aman season, the farmers cut paddy and dry it in the sun before taking it home and the rats cut the ripe grains and take them to the pit. Aymana Bewa and many others bring out the grain of paddy from rat holes. This is their Navanna festival. So we do not prevent them from collecting rice."

In this regard, Durgapur Upazila Agriculture Officer Shahana Parveen Labani said,

'There can be snakes and poisonous insects in the rat hole. So it is risky to collect paddy from rat holes like this. However, many people do this for the necessity of the stomach.'

She also said, "Rats can be controlled by using rat killing traps and chemical methods to save farmers from loss. Farmers will benefit from this."

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