Rat killing campaign begins

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Nilphamari launched a massive rat killing campaign in the district yesterday. The target is to kill one lakh rats in the ongoing aman paddy season to save crops. An inaugural ceremony was held at the auditorium of the Sadar upazila agriculture office. Dewan Kamal Ahmed, mayor of Nilphamari municipality, inaugurated the campaign. Idris Ali, deputy director of district DAE, said rats eat up several thousand tons of paddy worth crores of taka every year in the district. Farmers killed about 69,000 rats in the rat killing campaign last year. Being inspired by that success, the target of killing of one lakh rats has been set this year. Three farmers and a sub-assistant agriculture officer were rewarded for their significant role in killing rats in the previous year.