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Graft eats up lion’s share of national income

Matia tells rats elimination campaign programme

Staff Correspondent
Corruption eats up major share of the country's national income, said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday terming the corrupt people as rats in human society.
"You are talking only of the rats damaging crops and fruits, but why not of the rats of human society who are eating up the major portion of our national income. So you have to pay attention to this aspect too,” she said.
The minister was inaugurating a month-long National Rats Elimination Campaign at the auditorium of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in the capital.
According to DAE research, rats annually destroy 12 to 15 lakh tonnes of rice. Besides, eight to 12 percent wheat, five to seven percent potato, six to nine percent pineapple, four to five percent vegetables, eight to 10 percent coconuts
produced in the country are destroyed by rats.
The rats also spread 33 kinds of diseases including typhoid, jaundice, skin diseasesandplague.
The DAE annually conducts the campaign to eliminate rats in September when it is easy to kill rats.
During the month-long campaign in 2008, a total of 64,58,773 rats were killed.
Farmers, educational institutions and agriculture officials were also rewarded for killing good number of rats which make colossal damages to almost all sorts of crops and fruits.
Addressing the programme as chief guest, the agriculture minister said it is important that farmers and others help eliminate rats.
“Of course, it is not possible to eliminate all rats, but we have to try best to keep their spread at a level so that they cannot make colossal damages. For(this you r^eqd.ty
make innovative techniques instead of only using poison," she said.
Rearing and training animals like cats, dogs and squirrels, which have hostile relations with rats, could also help eliminate rats, Matia said, adding, "Through rearing and taking care of these pet animals at homes, children can also achieve human qualities."
Rats' reproductive capacity is very high and unless stronger steps are taken, rats could turn into a national problem, said DAE Additional Director Abdul Hannan in his presentation.
Bangladesh could be made a food surplus country by eliminating rats, he added.
Agriculture Secretary CQK Mushtaq Ahmed, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council Executive Chairman Wais Kabir, and DAE Director (field services) Fazlul Haque also spoke at the programme chaired by DAE Director QqneralSayeedAli. ; tr,p r f