Almost 1,04,492 metric tons of paddy worth Tk 208,98,40,000 was saved across the country due to the last year’s month-long rat killing campaign. This was disclosed at the inaugural programme of the ‘National Rat Killing Campaign 2019’ organised by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) on Thursday. Catchline of this year’s campaign is ‘Come, let’s kill rats together to protect property and crop’. Abdul Mannan, MP, member of the parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Agriculture, inaugurated the campaign to be observed from 10 October to 9 November.
Krishibid (Agriculturist) Chondi Das Kundu presided over the programme while agriculture secretary Md Nasiruzzaman and Krishibid Md Hamidur Rahman, among others, attended the programme. Speakers said that various crops and food grains, such as paddy, wheat, maize, groundnut, fruits and vegetables worth around Tk 500 crore are being either damaged or eaten up by rats every year.
Besides, rats also do harm to the poultry farms by making holes and eating eggs, chicks and poultry feed worth Tk 18,000 from each farm every year. Rats also damage boundaries of arable land, roads, flood control embankments, irrigation canals and other properties. The amount of paddy that is destroyed by rats every year is sufficient for feeding over 60 lakh people of the country, speakers added.
On the other hand, country’s farmers, agricultural workers, students and teachers killed around 1,39,32,234 rats last year. Speakers urged agriculture officials, experts and workers, farmers and common people to turn the rat killing campaign into an effective social movement to save huge crops for food security.
