Heavy Floods Deny Farmers Rat Barbecue Updated 8:18 AM ET November 28, 2000
news.excite.com
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Reuters) - Vietnamese farmers will miss out on traditional rat barbecues
this season as recent floods have largely wiped out the pest, experts say.
Rats have been the cause of many problems for rice farmers in the Mekong Delta in recent years, so
enterprising farmers have taken to selling and eating the rodents to alleviate the problem.
Rats destroyed 245,000 hectares (605,400 acres) of rice crops last year in Vietnam, the world's second
largest rice exporter after Thailand, according to a study compiled by the Southern Vietnam's Institute of
Agriculture Sciences.
But since August, heavy rains and severe flooding in the region have washed away most of the rodents.
"Last year rat meat was about 5,000 dong ($0.345) per kilo in the market. But this year, there's none
available. Major floods have killed them all," said an official at the institute.
Rat meat is a common source of protein in the region and until this year officials had been battling with the
question of how to catch the rats without using poison. |
