In Vietnam, the year 2023 is known as Tet, the Year of the Cat instead of the Year of the Rabbit, one of the Chinese zodiac calendar’s 12 animal signs. The country celebrates the new year with streets decked in cat-themed decorations.
There are several theories on the difference. One suggests that Vietnam chose the cat over the rabbit because rice is a major agricultural crop and felines help reduce the threat of rats in the fields by preying on them.
At least 500,000 hectares of rice paddy across Vietnam are lost annually due to rats.
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Pest surveillance system for food security: A case study in the Philippines
Pest surveillance programs have been implemented in the Philippines, the most prominent of which was the Surveillance and Early Warning System launched in 1974 as a response to massive pest outbreaks. The system was based on systematic and continuous monitoring of pests in farmers’ fields using a standard procedure and the results were used as the basis for the timing of pest control measures. After this project was completed, access to data on pest intensity, production situation, and yield was difficult, and when available, the collection procedure was not standardized.
When rats attack
A famine broke out in India’s northeastern state of Mizoram in 1958-59. It reportedly took more than 10,000 lives and caused severe sociopolitical conflicts. This led to the Mizoram Uprising in 1966, followed by a 20-year armed revolt against the central Indian authority. The struggle ended only in 1986 with the signing of a peace accord. What started the famine? The answer lies in the startling increase in rodent populations after the rare phenomenon of bamboo flowering occurred.
Of rice and rats
Rats and mice, animals that have played a central role in human life for thousands of years, are arguably the most important family of mammals. There are over 2,270 species of rodents (defined as animals that have continually growing incisor teeth and no canine teeth) and 42% of all mammal species are classified as rodents.
They are the ultimate mammalian weed, living in almost every habitat on Earth, and adapting well to environments significantly altered by humans. Rodents have two major impacts. The first is the substantial pre- and postharvest losses they cause to agriculture. The second is as carriers of debilitating human diseases.
