Farmers winning war on rats in Bulacan

CITY OF MALOLOS—Thanks to hunters, and a promise of prizes from the provincial government, Bulacan’s rice farms were saved from widespread devastation by field rats.

Farmers, who joined a rat hunting competition launched by Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado in May, killed 106,620 rats and saved about 80 percent of the province’s rice farms from rodents that feasted on their crops.

To encourage farmers and residents to help eliminate field rats, called “dagang bukid” here, Alvarado promised an incentive of P1 for every rat killed.

The farmers should present the rats’ tails to their town agriculture offices so these could be recorded and validated before they could get the prize.

Ruben Santos, village chair of Dulong Malabon in Pulilan town, received the top prize for his village after farmers, residents and barangay officials hunted and killed 31,011 rats.

The village received P30,000 from the provincial government during the Farmers’ and Fishermen’s Day in Bulacan’s Singkaban Festival.

Edilberto Santos, from Barangay Inaon also in Pulilan, bagged the second prize for killing 22,929 rats.

Florentino Tenorio, a farmer from Calumpit town, said farmers and residents in his village of Pungo killed about 8,000 rats, earning for them P8,000.

Farmers use their bare hands, traps, sticks or wooden clubs to kill the rats. Some go to the fields and search the rodents’ dens so to drive the pests away with torches and kill them.

Some avoid using poison as they treat rat meat as a delicacy.

Renato de la Cruz, a resident of Barangay Tarcan in Baliuag town, said some cook rats and eat them as appetizers during drinking sessions.

Gloria Carillo, Bulacan agriculture officer, said 16 towns have reported problems in dealing with field rats.

She said Bulacan farmers have included rat control measures in their programs. “Our data showed that losses from rat infestation are hurting our farmers,” she said.

The rats were actively hunted in May in preparation for rice planting in June. However, many farmers continued hunting rats until August.

Farmers in Bulacan are due to harvest their palay next month. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon