Farmers in the northern central province of Nghe An have had to capture grasshoppers overnight to protect their crops.
Fields in Tan Ky District’s Nghia Binh Commune are being ravaged by millions of grasshoppers. Local authorities have used drones to spray insecticides to control the grasshoppers. However, this is not allowed at dairy pastures and corn fields used as animal feed, so residents have to manually catch the grasshoppers.
People made handmade nets to hunt grasshoppers.
Luc Van The, a local person, said that “Grasshoppers do not have wings as they remain small, so it is quite easy to capture them. On the first days, he and his wife caught 30-40 kilos per day. Grasshoppers can be dried to be used as animal feed and are sold at between 50,000-60,000 per kilo.
The chemical spraying has also affected neighbouring areas.
Luong Van Thanh, 43, from Nghia Binh said that during the daytime, people often hunt grasshoppers in the evening as they are often more active during the day time, so it is more difficult to catch them.
