Khliehriat, Oct 13: To tackle the menace and destruction caused by mice and rats to agricultural products, the District Horticulture Officer of East Jaiñtia Hills, Deibormi Dhar, has come up with a novel solution to the problem.
Farmers everywhere have to contend with the danger of rodents to their crops – those that are in the fields and those that have been harvested. In order to mitigate the danger, Dhar has come up with the ‘Dung Bilor Rodent Bait’.
In this process, crushed powdered glass bottles are mixed with flour and dry fish that are stocked in one foot-long bamboo sections that are closed at one end.
For every kilogramme of flour only two or three spoons of finely crushed bottles are needed, along with a cup of finely ground dry fish and a little water to bind the ingredients together.
The balls are then placed in the bamboo and securely placed near holes and trails used by rats.
Dhar said that the bamboo should be checked after two or three days and if they have disappeared, they should be replaced.
Rats that eat the mixture would also take some to their nest and, in this way, the solution mixed with bottles will gradually kill the rodents within two to three days, he said.
The bamboo has two uses – it is small enough to allow only rat-sized animals in, thereby preventing cats, dogs and wildlife from getting at the mixture and it also protects the bait from rain.
This bait is free from chemicals and is inexpensive, Dhar added, and can be used to curtail the menace of rats, which not only eat crops but also spread disease.
