Rodents attacking Sundar rice fields

Awang Tengah check the Gelugus Water Intake Station in Lawas

LAWAS: Tens of acres of rice fields in the Sundar sub-district are being attacked by rats, with between 10 and 20 per cent of crops already destroyed.

OVER THERE: Awang Tengah (front) checks the Gelugus Water Intake station in Lawas.
This latest attack has added to the devastation faced by rice farmers who last year had to deal with floods and a prolonged drought at the sprawling 100-ha site.

Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the Department of Agriculture would soon give seeds and rat poison to farmers to offset some of the losses.

“I don’t know whether there is any correlation between the drought and rat population explosion, but what is clear is that farmers are suffering losses and that it is heartbreaking as so much effort and hard work have been put into the fields,” he said at Kampung Aru on Sunday.
He was officiating at the closing ceremony of a community sports programme organised by the Community Development Department (Kemas).

Awang Tengah said while it was impossible to fight nature, the government could extend a helping hand to farmers to alleviate their sufferings.
He said he understood their frustrations because he was involved in rice farming during his school days in Merapok.

Lawas District agriculture officer Zulkifli Sahari confirmed that the damage inflicted by rat attacks in Sundar was extensive.
The planting area is shared by three villages, including Kampung Aru.
The government paid RM1,000 in compassionate aid to rice farmers after their crop was wiped out by major flooding early last year.
Meanwhile, Awang Tengah also visited the Gelugus Water Intake Station during his working visit to Lawas following a development committee meeting to ensure that the projects approved were being implemented accordingly.

He called on the Public Works Department (JKR) to ensure that the works for high level water tanks and distribution pipe mains would be on schedule in tandem with the upcoming Trusan Regional Water Treatment Plant project.

The Lawas water supply is currently at maximum capacity due to surging demand from the district, thus there is a need for a regional water supply system for future needs.
During the recent drought, mobile treatment plants helped push the capacity to 11.5 MLD (megalitres daily) for the respective treatment plants in the district.

The star of the treatment plants in the district is the inclined plate technology at Layong plant, which churns out 3.75 MLD at a development cost of RM 1.7 million compared to conventional plants, which cost much more but have lower production levels.

March 16, 2010, Tuesday