Le Thuy District, the biggest rice hub in the province, has 700 hectares left abandoned in this year’s summer-autumn rice crop, including up to 200 hectares in Hoa Thuy Commune alone.
As many as 6,886 hectares of land in the central province of Quang Binh have been left idle because of rats
Vo Xuan Hoa, chairman of Hoa Thuy Commune, said that over the past years, local fields have been seriously damaged by rats. A field was even ruined by rats in just a few nights.
Bo Trach District is among the localities attacked by rats, with Dai Trach Commune being hardest hit with 160 hectares of farmland left idle.
Dai Trach Commune Chairman Phan Van Ngo said that local farmers had mostly abandoned the summer-autumn crop in recent years because of rats.
The commune is located by the North-South railway route. The track offers ideal shelters for rats. The locality has launched many campaigns to fight against rats, but it has been impossible to kill all of them.
High prices of agricultural materials have also discouraged people from focusing on farming.
Locals have to spend more to hire harvesting machines at around VND180,000- 300,000 for every 360 square metres.
Fertilizer prices have also increased to VND1.8 million for every 100 kilos up from VND900,000 in 2021.
In the winter-spring crop this year, Quang Binh cultivated 29,386 hectares of rice, but the area fell to 22,500 during the summer-autumn crop.
