Myanmar: Rats gnaw at cyclone recovery hopes

Hla Shwe, 47, had great expectations for his 14ha of paddy fields, which he hoped would help him recover from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.
 
But then the rats came to his small village of Satsalongkya, a two-and-a-half hour boat trip from Bogale, one of the worst-hit areas in last May’s cyclone.

“I’ve tried my best to wipe out the rats, but they are still there, destroying my paddy plants,” Hla Shwe said, pointing at the remains.

Besides killing young paddy plants and ruining the harvest, the rats also eat rice grains as they ripen.

“Rat infestation is a big problem in the cyclone-affected area, which is very worrying,” Myo Aung Kyaw, secretary-general of the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders’ Association, told IRIN. “Production of rice could be affected due to the rat infestation.”

The rodent population is growing exponentially in the Ayeyarwady Delta - where agriculture is the primary income source for 60 percent of families - and posing a new risk to the livelihood recovery of communities still suffering from the cyclone’s impact, experts say.
 
The storm devastated the divisions of Ayeyarwady and Yangon, leaving most low-lying fertile areas ruined and 783,000ha of farmland flooded, according to the Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan.
 
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) says the increase in the rat population is most likely due to the loss of predators such as snakes, dogs and cats during Cyclone Nargis.
 
With a three-week gestation cycle, rats are breeding more quickly than snakes, which take two to three months to produce offspring. Since more delta land is lying fallow than before the cyclone, rats are also profiting from favourable habitats and food availability.  
 
To solve the problem, cyclone-affected farmers have been instructed by the government to kill up to 15 rats a day, and submit their tails to local authorities, or risk being fined.
 

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

Farmer Hla Shwe showing paddy plants destroyed by rats in a field in the Ayeyarwady Delta

In the past three months, more than 2.5 million rats have been exterminated in the Ayeyarwady Delta by the Myanmar Agriculture Service, with support from the FAO and other community, NGO and UN partners, the FAO says.
 
Culling rodents
 
Despite the culling efforts, there are probably three to four times as many rats still living in the delta. In some villages in Bogale township, up to 50 percent of rice acreage already shows signs of rat damage, according to the FAO.
 
“Unless funding is found to continue the current, coordinated prevention efforts, there will likely be an increase in the rat population, replacing the population already killed and leading to further damage and a possible spread of the rodents to crops not currently affected,” Shin Imai, FAO’s representative in Myanmar, told IRIN.
 
“If we are to prevent further damage to the monsoon rice crop and damage to the following dry season crops, we must continue the current preventative measures and emphasize an integrated pest-management approach for the coming winter season,” he said.
 
The monsoon rice crop is usually planted in July and harvested in November and December, while the summer rice or dry season crop is planted in December or January, and harvested in March and early April.
 
Preventative measures include community campaigns on topics such as hygiene, waste management, and non-chemical rodent control and trapping, Imai said.
 
Crop support
 
While most cyclone-affected rice fields have returned to production, thanks to agricultural inputs from government institutions and the community, the FAO says some southern areas in the delta, particularly the townships of Bogale and Labutta, still need support.  
 
"Paddy harvest is unlikely to have returned to pre-Nargis levels,” Imai said, “However, preliminary information indicates that this year’s harvest may have been better than last year's.”
 
While equipping the farmers with essential inputs for farming is crucial, the price of rice – fixed by the government - also plays an important role, said Myo Aung Kyaw of the rice association.
 
“Farmers should be motivated in terms of rice price,” he said, calling for the government to be flexible over prices.
 
contributor/ey/mw