Agricom.id, BATUBARA - Gerakan pengendalian (gerdal) or control to rats through gropyokan done by Horticulture and Food Plantation (HFP) Agency, North Sumatera Province in the 50 hectare – areas in Village of Sidomulyo, Sub district of Sei Balai, District of Batubara some time ago get the good result. 534 rats were caught, then killed, and buried.

“The catch was fabulous to control the rat population in paddy fields in Village of Sidomulyo," Head of Technical Units of Horticulture and Food Plantation Protection or Unit Pelaksana Teknis, Perlindungan Tanaman Pangan dan Hortikultura (UPT PTPH), HFP Agency, North Sumatera Province, Marino said in his office in Jalan A.H. Nasution, Medan, Wednesday (6/5/2020), as in the official written statement to Agricom.id.

Fabulous means, as he continued, that the rat population develops fast. A couple of rats could be potential to birth 8 – 12 little rats per month. Besides, the reproduction of rats does take shortly, which is, ready to give birth at 35 days within pregnancy period for about 21 days. The great is that after two days of giving birth, the female rats are ready to be pregnant again.

“A couple of rat could have generations up to 2.046 rats per year. If it is related to the result of gropyokan (reaching 534 rat), it is equal to 267 couples of rats. It means, 546.282 rats could be controlled in one year to go in the village,” he said.

Gropyokan is one technic to control the rats in the paddy fields by hunting them directly by breaking the active holes which are suspected as the nets. In general, there would be two or three active holes within 6 – 8 cm of diameter as the entrance for the rats. But the holes in the soil would be long and have branches. The holes even have spots to give birth and raise the little rats.

“Our officers and the groups of farmers in the village control the rats to develop in the village by advantaging the control materials helped by UPT PTPH North Sumatera, such as, tyrant and petrokum," he mentioned.

He also said that the disease and pest control to the food and horticulture plantations were done as the follow up of the surveillance of the officers of pengendalian organisme pengganggu tumbuhan – pengamat hama penyakit (POPT-PHP) in the fields.

The surveillance of OPT is one basic principles of the integrated pest control system that ministry of agriculture always orders. "Based on what General Director of Food Plantations, Ministry of Agriculture, Suwandi told, to secure the food plantations, UPT Perlindungan Tanaman Pangan dan Hortikultura of North Sumatera is ready to monitor and secure it,” Marino said.

Head of HFP Agency, North Sumatera Province, H. Dahler Lubis did not deny it and said that the pest and disease control is the stimulant for the farmers so that they could handle their agriculture issues independently in the future.

He also mentioned that the rat population should be controlled so that the paddy could maximally produce. In addition there is no technology that could control the rats individually because the source of food is not always around the nets.

“When they search for the food, the rats go across or around about 150 meters. It means that the control should be done together within the control distance up to 150 meters,” he said.

He also warned that the successful key to control the rats is how to mobilize the compactness of the farmers. It is important to do it together.

“To secure the production in the corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic is very important. Do not let the attack get wider and slow to control. We have done what Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo is aware of, to maintain the production and do activity carefully,” Dahler said.

Meanwhile, General Director of Food Plantation, Ministry of Agriculture, Suwandi told that Ministry of Agriculture through Balai Besar Peramalan Organisme Pengganggu Tanaman (BBPOPT), General Directorate of Food Plantation keeps doing the best to control the rats which attack the paddy fields. The officers of OPT would give the guidance to the farmers to control the rats.

“The successful key to control the rats is how to mobilize the compactness of the farmers. If it is personally done, the result would be the same because the range of the rats is wide enough. It is important to do it together,” he said. (A2)