VIENTIANE, 25 June 2009 (IRIN) - A burgeoning rodent population is damaging crops and worsening the food security situation for thousands of families across northern Laos, but experts believe the introduction of barn owls could ease the problem.

A study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proposes introducing barn owls (Tyto alba) to control the rodents. Native to Laos, the owl is a natural predator of rats which make up 99 percent of its diet.

Unlike rat traps used in many villages, the owl plan requires no major effort by local communities. But local community participation would be vital to the programme's success, Serge Verneau, FAO country representative in Vientiane, told IRIN.

"We need to encourage communities not to kill the birds, not to eat them, to leave them in peace and not to practice slash and burn so frequently that it destroys the bird's natural habitat," he explained.

"The Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure is very supportive of this long-term solution. We submitted the plan to two donors but we have had no response yet. We just need a 'yes' or 'no' as quickly as possible so we can take action one way or another," Verneau said.

Lean season

"The damage done by the rodents is being felt just as the lean season is starting," Elisabeth Faure, deputy representative of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Laos, told IRIN.

"Families are already reducing the number and size of meals," she said, and called for urgent food assistance to prevent malnutrition.

The seven rodent-affected provinces (Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, Xayaboury, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly, Huaphan and Bokeo) account for more than half of chronically food insecure households (or those on the verge of chronic food insecurity) in the country's 17 provinces.

According to a March 2009 WFP emergency food security assessment, urgent food assistance was needed for up to 140,000 people affected by the infestation which began in April 2008, but is continuing.

Nine districts in four provinces were confirmed to have been severely affected.

To make matters worse, many vulnerable households are still suffering the after-effects of severe flooding about nine months ago.

"We were hit by floods in October 2008," Khamphone Thammavongsa*, the headman of a village in Xay District, Oudomxay Province, said. "We've been sending letters for assistance to the District Labour and Social Welfare Office since December 2008 but we still haven't had a response," he claimed.

Some villagers have even had to sell their livestock, he said.

Rodents love bamboo seeds

Experts attribute the unusually large number of rodents to bamboo flowering: As the availability of bamboo seeds - a popular food for rats - increases, so too does the rats' fertility.

Rattus rattus, the rat responsible for the outbreak, has decimated rice crops in many villages.

Seventy-four percent of interviewed households reported 50-100 percent losses; 100 percent rice losses were common, the WFP survey said.

"I've lost about a third of my total paddy rice crop and 80 percent of my entire upland rice crop," Bounfaeng Leukai*, a villager in Xay District said, describing the situation as the worst he has seen in more than two decades.

"Seventy to 80 percent of my other crops - sesame and maize - are also gone," he said.

WFP response

WFP has already begun distributing seeds and cash to affected families in three provinces.

Reaching the more remote communities remains a challenge and the rainy season (June-November) is further hampering efforts. WFP plans to complete distribution in the remaining regions over the next three months but funding continues to be a major constraint.

"Alleviating the immediate needs of the families is the priority now, but the outbreak poses a long-term food security issue which must also be addressed," FAO's Serge Verneau told IRIN.

"WFP has done an excellent job: it has made an invisible problem visible and provided an emergency response. We now have a unique opportunity to act in the long term to prevent future outbreaks. When the rats come back next time, we'll be prepared," he said.

Rodent expert, Bounneuang Douangbouapha, head of Laos' Hadokeo Horticultural Research Centre, said a long-term solution was required.

"Rodent outbreaks have been occurring in Laos for many, many years and are likely to occur again... To effectively manage rodent outbreaks a long-term approach, based on ecological management, needs to be taken," he said.

Responding with rat poison, an option suggested in the local press, was short-term and harmful to the environment, said Verneau.

Meanwhile at ground zero, Bounfaeng is not waiting for an answer and is taking action: "I eat the rats. The rats eat my crops so I eat them."

*For privacy reasons the names of the villagers in this report have been changed.

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