Planting on a field, Mr. Nguyen Van Giap, Tan Tien commune (Hung Ha, Thai Binh ) spent a lot of money to buy nylon to fence the field to limit rats from biting and destroying the rice. At this time, when the early rice is holding the panicle, preparing to bloom, draining water to help the rice grow deep, avoiding falling over at the end of the season is also the time when rats bite and destroy heavily.

Mr. Giap said: I use nylon to surround the field and apply manual measures to catch and kill rats regularly, so the situation of rats biting and destroying is limited. However, every few days I have to go to the field to check, if I find rats in the field, I have to collect the yellowed rice leaves that have been bitten by the rats, and at the same time check the nylon, set traps and baits.

This year's crop is the second one that Tan Tien Commune's Agricultural Service Cooperative has signed a contract with a company to organize rat extermination in An Nhan village's fields with a fee of 100,000 VND/sao/year.

Mr. Tran Van Chinh, Director of the Cooperative, said: Each crop, the company organizes the spreading of biological bait at fixed times. During the rice growing process, farmers check the fields and find rats biting and destroying them, they notify the Cooperative, and the Cooperative will notify the company to organize rat extermination. The company commits to the effectiveness and also compensates people for areas damaged by rats, so people actively participate. From the pilot model in An Nhan village, in the coming time, we will summarize and replicate it to the whole commune. For areas that have not signed a contract to hire the company, the Cooperative organizes biological bait spreading sessions and simultaneously launches a campaign to manually kill rats in the fields.

Rats destroying rice fields is quite common in some rice fields and crop fields in localities; especially in areas near villages, along dikes, along roads, industrial parks and clusters.

According to the agricultural sector, the current sharp increase in rats is mainly due to the increasingly complex effects of climate change, while diversified farming and continuous crop rotation also create favorable conditions for rats to thrive. In particular, the decline of natural enemies such as snakes, cats, owls, etc. also contributes to this situation.

The work of preventing, controlling and exterminating rats has not been organized on a large scale and comprehensively; many localities have signed contracts with companies to exterminate rats, however, due to the intermingling of fields, the results have not been as expected. In particular, despite the recommendations of functional sectors and local authorities, in some localities, people still use electricity to exterminate rats.

To implement measures to kill rats and protect production, the agricultural sector has developed a plan to implement the campaign; directed specialized units to coordinate with localities to increase propaganda about the risks and harms of rats; instructed people on effective measures to kill rats; sent officials to join the inspection team to control the trading and use of pesticides; strictly handled the trading and use of rat poisons not on the list of those permitted for use in Vietnam.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thai Binh province, said: Rats are one of the pests that are difficult to control due to their living habits and ability to multiply quickly.

Therefore, to minimize the damage caused by rats, localities must eradicate rats early from the beginning of each crop; focused, regular, continuous and communal. In particular, clearly identify peak periods to launch a mass rat extermination campaign to achieve high efficiency. In the crop season, localities launch campaigns from the end of July to the end of August, which is the time before the rat breeding season.

The agricultural sector recommends that localities implement a combination of rat extermination measures, focusing on manual measures such as digging, catching, trapping rats and using natural enemies of rats, using biological rat poison; absolutely do not use electricity, banned drugs, or drugs not on the permitted list to exterminate rats.

In addition, regularly cut grass banks, clear bushes, limit mounds, clean up crop residues before planting and after harvesting... to limit the habitat of rats; should plant compact crops in one season, harvest promptly to limit the prolongation of food sources and habitats of rats.