MACHILIPATNAM: If the weather is good with farmers without bringing any cyclones in November, it is the rat that eats the paddy grains and leaves the farmer in despair. Then it is the Yanadi tribe members who visit the fields in winter and rescue the farmers from the crop damage due to rat menace.
Though rat-catching is not a profession of the Yanadi tribal people, they take it up as a seasonal livelihood activity in Krishna district. Rat-catching activity between November and December is likely to guarantee a few thousand rupees of income for each Yanadi tribal family.
According to farmers, rats manage to settle in the fields expecting to collect paddy grain from November. “We should keep an eye on the weather conditions and the presence of rats in the fields since early November. The crop damage caused by the rat is heavy if we fail to drive it away from the field,” say farmers of Machilipatnam.
In Krishna district, Diviseema region has a significant number of Yanadi tribal families who engage in rat-catching. “We do prepare an exclusive rat-catching device which is made of sticks or bamboo. We simply place it at strategic places across the field to catch rats alive,” say Yanadi tribal families talking to The Hindu . They, however, do not wish to reveal their names.
The tribal rat catchers charge Rs. 20 for catching each rat. A farmer is required to spend at least a few thousand rupees on tackling the rat menace per acre.
