Rats devour huge Aman paddy in N-districts

Our Correspondent RANGPUR, Oct 23: About 2 lakh metric tonnes of Aman paddy in 8 northern districts under Rangpur division goes to the stomach of rats every year, sources said. Besides, rats eat up 8 to 10 percents of potato, 10 to 12 percent of wheat, 4 to 5 percent of vegetables, 8 to 10 percent of coconut each year from the total production in the region. As a result farmers are deprived of huge amount of money, sources also said. According to sources about 10 to 12 lakh hectares of land are brought under Aman paddy cultivation in the region every year. From these lands about 25 to 28 lakh metric tonnes of paddy are produced. At least 5 to 7 percent of the produced paddy is devoured by rats every year. The growth of rats is high this year on account of inadequate rainfall in the region. Thousands of rats attack the Aman fields in Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts and damage huge quantity of crops, sources alleged. In the last year it was possible to save 2000 metric tonnes of Aman paddy by killing rats as DAE launched a rat killing drive 2, 59,451 rats in Rangpur division were killed last year sources informed. Deputy Director of DAE Rangpur, Golam Sobhani said this year DAE has taken initiatives to save crops from rats and rat killing drive is going on. He also put emphasis on the awareness of the farmers in this regard.