Farmers exchange snails for money

JAMBI: Farmers in Sungaibaung village, Muarobulian district, Batanghari, are collecting snails from their rice fields and exchanging them for Rp 500 (less than 1 US cent) each from the Batanghari Agriculture Office.

"That is a sort of compensation for farmers whose fields were attacked by snails," the office's coordinator of pest control, Suparjianto, said on Thursday.

He said the program had been underway for several days and some 40 tons of snails had been collected, with 17 tons of the snails being destroyed.

He said about 50 hectares of rice fields had been attacked by snails over the past two weeks, resulting in about 20 hectares being destroyed. -- JP