THE local government of San Luis is allocating P1 million to stop the infestation of rats in the town's farmlands.
In his live Facebook video, Mayor Jayson Sagum urged farmers and residents to hunt down house and farm rats to stop them from hurting the town's agricultural sector.
In exchange, the local government will be paying P5 cash reward for each rat's tip of tail that can be presented to the Municipal Agricultural Office (MAO).
"This is part of our programs for the agriculture sector which is still one of the major livelihood in our municipality. Every year, we allocate and seek budget to help them improve their produce but right now, they need assistance in protecting their crops from the rats," he said.
The program is expected to save P75 million worth of palay which is estimated to be damaged by 200,000 rats if not killed, according to Sagum.
"Each rat destroys 25 kilos of palay which is worth around P15 per kilo. If we can kill 200,000 rats from the P1-million bounty, we will be able to save P75 million worth of palay," he explained.
Sagum said the municipality has a total land area of 5,600 hectares. Of this, 4,870 hectares of rice and vegetable crops cultivated by some 2,500 farmers have been infested with rats.
He said the MAO will be setting up a table in front of the municipal hall that will receive the evidence of dead rats weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Rat bounty hunters are reminded to ensure that only tails of rats from San Luis will be surrendered, and not from other municipalities.
"This all a matter of honesty. Do not bring in rats from Candaba or from San Simon," he said, referring to the two towns adjacent to San Luis.
Meanwhile, Sagum also disclosed that aside from farmers, the program is also expected to help unemployed Luiseños who are willing to hunt and kill rats.
Apart from the cash reward, he said the killers can also sell the rat meat, which has an estimated market price of P120 to P150.
"We are only asking for the tip of the tail as evidence so they can still sell the meat in the market. For each rat, they can already earn at least P125," he said.