Agri officials play pied piper as rats plague farmers

Box: Fighting back the rodents

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The Agriculture Department advised farmers to prepare a mixture of 400 gm of maize /wheat or millet grains for for one acre of field and add 10 gm of edible oil and 10 gm of powdered sugar to it. The mixture should be further kept at the rat hole for the first two to three days and on fourth day, a similar mixture should be prepared by mixing 10 gm of medicine in it. The officials said one can make 40 such packs.

Tribune News Service

Nawanshahr, July 16

The Agriculture Department, Nawanshahr, has been organising camps in various villages after the farmers complained of rats destroying their fields. Last week, the farmers of Bhaghora village and adjoining villages brought to the notice of the department that in villages such as Bhan Majara, Barwa, Baghora, Rakra, Bakapur, Jainpur and other adjoining villages, crops such as paddy, maize and fodder crops were being destroyed by rats because of which farmers had to incur huge losses.

A special camp and a farmers’ talk was held today at Baghora village to train farmers to deal with the problem of rats. Naresh Kataria, Block Agriculture Officer of Nawanshahr, along with other field officers, inspected the fields in the villages.

He noticed that the standing crops were severely damaged by rats. He said, “The issue of rats can be resolved only if a campaign is launched in the entire village for the prevention of rats,” the agriculture officer said.

He apprised the farmers of the procedure to combat this issue. He said for one acre of field, one can prepare a mixture of 400 gm of maize /wheat or millet grains and add 10 gm of edible oil and 10 gm of powdered sugar to it and keep it in the rat hole for the first two to three days and on fourth day, a similar mixture should be prepared by mixing 10 gm of medicine in it and making 40 such packs. Then, this mixture should be placed inside the rat hole. “Adopting the technique can reduce the risk of crop damage by rats,” the officer said. He further said at present, no such disease has been found in the paddy and maize crop. So, unnecessary poisoning should be avoided.

Raj Kumar, the Chief Agriculture Officer Nawanshahr said usually, during this season, heavy rains used to flood the fields, thus, keeping the rodent menace at bay. But, this time, since the monsoon is late, hence the problem got aggravated. So, we held campaigns and advised farmers of the method that they can use,” he said, adding that the situation at present is under control.

The officer said, “A rat can adapt itself to any environment and it has a great smelling power. That is why it is important to use the medicine in a prescribed amount, otherwise it can smell it and chances are the rat would never have it,” the officer said.