Society
Mekong Delta farmers turn straw, stubble into gold
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| Grasshoppers eat leaves of banana tree. — Illustrative Photo VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Đạt |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Grasshoppers have consumed the leaves of some 800ha of crops and over 8,000ha of forest in the northern mountainous Sơn La Province’s Sốp Cộp District since mid-May.
Nguyễn Ngọc Tú, chairman of the district People’s Committee, said the grasshoppers had initially only appeared in the villages of Nà Vạc and Pá Kạch in Mường Lạn Commune near the national border between Việt Nam and Laos. Then, they started attacking other areas in the district.
According to Tú, the grasshoppers flew to the area from Laos late last year, and local residents had used nets to catch them but had failed to reduce their population.
The provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Department had sprayed chemicals to get rid of the grasshoppers, but this move had failed to cull their numbers too.
The grasshoppers are predicited to move to the communes of Nặm Lạnh, Mường Và and Mường Cai to find more leaves for food. — VNS
