With an infestation of mice threatening rice harvests in Kompong Cham province, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Wednesday he is offering a bounty for the pesky rodents. The minister said he will pay 100 riel for the tail of each mouse that villagers turn in.
“We want the farmers to trap mice rather than using poison to kill them,” Chan Sarun said, adding that trapped mice can be sold for food. Kong Chhoeun, director of Kompong Cham provincial agricultural department, said the infestation is particularly bad in O’Reang-ou district, where there has been an unusually early retreat of flood waters. He advised farmers to surround their rice fields with plastic sheets to prevent the pests from eating their rice paddies. The provincial agriculture office has about 40 mouse traps, which it will allow farmers to use when rice paddies ripen this month, he said.
(Van Roeun)
