Bangladesh awards farmer who killed 83,000 rats
By Julhas Alam, Associated Press
Wed, Sep 30 2009 at 3:18 PM EST
Read more: ANIMAL RESEARCH, FARMING & AGRICULTURE
AW, RATS!: Children look at a trapped rat at an annual prize-giving ceremony on the first day of a monthlong rat killing campaign in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo: Pavel Rahman/AP) Bangladesh on Wednesday awarded a farmer who killed more than 83,000 rats and launched a monthlong campaign nationwide to kill millions more, to protect crops and reduce the need for food imports. Mokhairul Islam, 40, won a first prize of a color television for killing some 83,450 rats in nine months in Gazipur district near the South Asian country's capital, Dhaka. He collected their tails for proof.
"I am so happy to get this honor," Islam told The Associated Press after receiving a 14-inch television and a certificate amid cheers at an official ceremony packed with 500 farmers and officials. "I had no idea that the government gives prizes for this."
"This is an exciting moment. I will continue to kill them," he vowed.
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DiggOfficials say the impoverished nation imports some 3 million tons of food annually, while the Ministry of Agriculture estimates that rodents annually destroy 1.5 million to 2 million tons of food.
"We can cut the import of food by at least half if we can succeed in this year's campaign," said Wais Kabir, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council.
He asked everyone, especially farmers, to take on the killing mission as a sport. The government has said it will train mainly farmers and students for this year's campaign.
"Killing rats is not that easy, it needs training," Kabir said.
Islam said he mainly used poison to kill the rats at his poultry farm, and that the cull has paid off as the rodents now scavenge less.
"Previously I needed 33 sacks of poultry feed per week, now I need less than 30," he said.
Fakhrul Haque Akanda, a farmer from northern Bangladesh and the second-prize winner, killed some 37,450 rats mostly with traps, some of which he invented.
"These bloody rats are my enemy, they destroy my gardens," Akanda said.
"Please pray for me so that I can continue my mission and teach and motivate others to join me," he told the audience before taking his prize, also a television.
Last year, the U.N. World Food Program launched a monthslong food aid project in the country's southeast region after a plague of rats devoured rice crops.
Copyright 2009 AP News
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Comments(3)
Posted By D Venkmen - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 11:43 AM ESTuhhh..
To the last comment: was "cost cutting" your interpretation of the reason? Interesting...and what did YOU eat today?
Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Oct 02 2009 at 1:46 PM ESTBit much
14in color television for killing a living creature?
Should just be happy to cut costs...
Hopefully this does not get too out of hand
Double their gain?
I always think that people should combat these plagues by viewing them not as a pest but as a delicacy. That way they'd get back their lost food and have plenty of extra protein too. I've wondered about this since I heard about a bullfrog problem in Australia - those are edible too! Granted, they'd have to stop using poison.