Public opinion is interested in the story of Can Tho spending nearly 30 billion VND to fight the “copper squirrel” – the familiar name of the Western people for the hamster. Local leaders have also officially stated that this is just an estimate based on the scenario given that if the mouse damages 5% of the production area and that is the total cost of the next 5 years. .
Many people sighed at the explanation with this “if”. In fact, a lot of people in the West have been living well, even getting rich through “copper squirrels”, so now they hear about it costs billions of dollars to destroy them, people put question marks. An agricultural expert wondered why not try to lure and then sell hamsters to not have to spend money on the budget?
Both me and the West like it There is no specific statistic from the authorities or the local authorities of the western provinces that each year, from the resources … the hamster, how much money people make. In fact, passing through many western provinces and cities, especially areas with large areas of rice, sugarcane, pineapple (fragrant), cajuput, … large like Can Tho, An Giang, Kien Giang, Dong Thap. , Hau Giang, Long An, wherever we go, we also see the shop’s label selling “specialty” processed from hamsters. And, in daily life, the dish is processed from hamsters (Ben Tre, Tra Vinh also has coconut mouse, hamster), for a long time it has been a familiar dish in the meal, even at home. There were parties, guests, this specialty was brought to the top of the party. 
Grilled hamster is a favorite dish not only for us but also for Western guests. Photo: ĐSA. Not long ago, I returned to the Red Flag (Can Tho) and met Mr. Huynh Van Hoang (known as Hoang “the army”). His house is next to the People’s Committee of Co Do town. Unlike a few times before, with his forte dish he cooked the best (salt-fried lemongrass mouse), this time, he treated me to … dried rat. Seeing the rats that had been cleaned, seasoned, and dried for 2-3 consecutive days by him, we found it intriguing. When he put it on the hot charcoal stove, and then the scent of the rat’s flesh spread across the neighborhood, we just looked quickly until we were seated at the table. The landlord directly chops the raw mango, picks the herb leaves, then rips the mouse meat by himself, … In fact, for many people in the West, hamsters can be processed into many delicious dishes that cannot compare to anything else. When we returned to the Hong Ngu border area (Dong Thap) in the fourth lunar month, we learned that it was the time of the most delicious rat meat. Local people explain that due to the preparation for the rainy season, the weather is warm, fresh, the plants are green and sprouted many young shoots … Enjoy the “lucky” so the hamsters are fat this season, freshly baked, the fat flows down the sizzling coal, fragrant. At that time, we also went to the back of the water gantry, directly participating in the rat-making process. Unlike dry food, freshly baked rats do not need to be seasoned with any spices other than a little garlic and a little fish sauce. The rats were clamped on fresh bamboo branches, split in half and then put on a charcoal fire. We have eaten many times of the grilled coconut mouse and hamster, but that time, we still had to blurt out because of the sweet and fragrant taste in each mouse meat … The special thing is when I asked the dipping sauce for this rustic delicacy, the owner, a farmer over 80 years old, ran to the back of the kitchen, and later brought up a plate of pure copper fish sauce. As I ate, the host couple enthusiastically showed me how to prepare a variety of delicious dishes from hamsters, which are store of laksa leaves, boiled wort (with wine), boiled batch, sautéed leaves, stir-fried onions, stir-fried vegetables. , beware of coconut water, roast, roast, roast satay and steamed rice dishes … When I got back to Cao Lanh city, my colleague also let me enjoy the “pearl pearl” (part of the genitals of male mice) sautéed the palanquin and said that it belonged to “he ate, she praised”. Because it can be processed into so many delicious dishes, for a long time, people have … “honored” rat meat with squirrel meat. Many people call this fun “squirrel copper” also because of that. In Phung Hiep (Hau Giang) and Thanh Hoa (Long An), every day, tons of hamsters are loaded into trucks and transported to Ho Chi Minh City. There is a very special thing is that Western guests also love rat meat. Many times I endlessly witness “foreign visitors” tearing roasted hamsters, eating deliciously is like tearing grilled chicken. An Giang Provincial People’s Committee leader said, when he came to An Giang for a survey early last year, Mr. Jan Zahradil, Vice Chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Commission (INTA), Chairman of the Friendship Parliamentary Group European Institutes (EP) and Vietnam, surprised him and many of the members of the delegation with the grace of having lunch with a meat dish “squirrel”. Proposal was met immediately. That day, in addition to specialties such as sesame fish sauce, cotton fish cooked sour soup – braised fish, deep fried fish, … the table also added 3 dishes from the hamster, which is a dish. Rats roast, fresh grilled mice and sauteed rats. And that day, this Western guest was only eating mouse dishes. He said many times to Vietnam, eating many delicious dishes but did not have the conditions to enjoy the hamster dish. Many of his friends, including the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly XIII Nguyen Van Giau said “if you go to the West, you must try once to tell”. Finished dinner that day, Mr. Jan Zahradil kept whining and said “very gossipy”. The plan achieves two goals Returning to the story of spending billions of money to fight mice, after the press reports, the leaders of the People’s Committee of Can Tho city explained that it was a story related to the implementation of a directive of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development. village. Based on the fact, Can Tho develops a plan to prevent and control plant infestation for the period 2021-2025. Specifically, in terms of rice crops from 2016 to 2020, 19,415 hectares of rice were damaged by rats. Can Tho’s plan is … if rats damage 5% of the production area, in the next 5 years, the total amount expected to be spent to support the people in coping with the epidemic is over 29.6 billion VND. And if the actual damage is like that, the proposed capital of the local budget is more than 22.5 billion dong, the remaining 7 billion dong, people “bear”. 
Traders come to Thanh Hoa district, Long An province, weigh the mouse to load them into a truck and transport them to Ho Chi Minh City. With this money, Can Tho is expected to organize more than 1,500 training courses, support 112,500 traps for farmers to control rats and 5,625 kg of bio-drugs. “The reality will depend on the situation each year. If this year, the prevention of rats is good, the following year will surely reduce the damage of rats. The detailed cost estimate plan was appraised and submitted to the authority to arrange the implementation in accordance with the regulations, but Can Tho was not available nearly 30 billion VND for prevention and control, ”said Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Summer, the person signed to issue the above plan. To make the public understand more about this plan, the Can Tho Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection explained that unlike pests and diseases, it only causes a decrease in yield, but if it is destroyed by rats, rice is often bitten off the base. , almost complete damage. “If based on the scenario of 11,200 ha of rice severely damaged by 50% of the area and 50% of the yield by the rat, it is estimated that 5,600 ha of rice would be damaged. With this area, if the rice yield is 7 tons / ha, there will be 39,200 tons of rice. And a loss of 50% in yield would result in a loss of 19,600 tons of rice. Calculated at the average selling price of 6,000 VND / kg, the number of damage is over 117 billion VND ”, this officer gave a calculation and also said that the weather factor was very favorable for mice to reproduce. A pair of parental mice after a year can produce 2,064 (?). Concerned about the fight against “copper squirrel”, many people, including agricultural experts, have different opinions. Professor Vo Tong Xuan, Rector of South Can Tho University, said the plan to spend nearly 30 billion dong to kill rats is too much money. “Using biological drugs to kill rats is not sure that this drug is not toxic and does not affect the environment. When sprayed, bio-drugs follow the water line, especially in the rainy season, it will spread to many places. As for the mouse trap, the State subsidizes it, whether the people will preserve it well, ”said Professor Vo Tong Xuan. The above plan to kill rats is budget-consuming but not likely to bring about high results, while farmers have many initiatives and tools to kill rats and take responsibility for their own fields. “These things, let the farmers take care of them. Every farmer is responsible, the rat bites his field so that the State takes care ”, Professor Vo Tong Xuan said and cited in the past time, pests and diseases in rice, farmers also actively sprayed. . Regarding community mousetrap (also known as plant traps), Professor Vo Tong Xuan concurred with the involvement of government officials. However, this method is only done when rats have high densities, potentially causing much harm. Professor Vo Tong Xuan also described the community mousetrap model, that is, on a rice field, functional departments rent about 500m² of paddy fields in the middle of the field, lure rats in, then catch and sell. With this approach, a commune in the key rice growing area of the West can make 2-3 community mouse traps. The proceeds from the sale of rats can compensate for the rent of the paddy field. Professor Vo Tong Xuan said that in Son Kien commune, Hon Dat district, Kien Giang province, there was a farmer who worked as a community mouse trap model and brought about economic efficiency. On the sidelines of a recent conference held in Can Tho, Mr. Le Van Thiet, Deputy Director of the Plant Protection Department – Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that killing rats or any other object should use total measures. In addition, in addition to manual methods (using traps, baits), the most effective method is to trap community because this method can kill rats on an area of up to 100 ha. According to Professor Vo Tong Xuan, in the first phase, the locality can experiment with the model of the Australian community mouse trap that has announced by the International Rice Research Institute. Since then, to see if luring mice into traps is effective or not, if seeing results, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should widely disseminate them.
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