Snails, rats ravage Mekong Delta rice

Snails, rats ravage Mekong Delta rice

HANOI (AFP): Snails and rats are ravaging tens of thousands of hectares of rice paddies in the Mekong Delta, following floods which have plagued the region for three months, an official source said on Thursday.

The worst flooding in 40 years in the country's "rice basket" has promoted the birth of "golden snails", illegally imported to Vietnam from Taiwan five years ago, said a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development official.

The "golden snails" are multiplying at an alarming rate in the Delta's flooded rice paddies and canals, with the official estimating that the snails have attacked more than 12,000 hectares of rice paddies.

Local officials have called on the agriculture ministry to launch a campaign to eradicate the snails to protect the region's winter-spring rice harvest.