A swarm of grasshoppers have reportedly damaged around six acres of paddy fields Gom Kora and nearby villages in Trashi Yangtse.
Grasshoppers can be seen hopping along the highway, moving to nearby paddy fields. Vehicles, moving along the highway, did its part to control the population by killing most of them but the number is still high. The grasshoppers first appeared in lower villages of Tongshang Gewog. It has now spread to Gom Kora area.
Neten Dorji is one of the victims of grasshopper attack. He had leased some wetland from Gom Kora Goenpa to cultivate paddy, where he said he spent more than Nu.10,000 for the cultivation. “I made an agreement with the Dratsang and agreed to give 800 Drey of rice as lease charge.” He said he may never to able to pay back what he borrowed. “I may have to borrow again.”
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…since we are near one of the sacred ney, it will be sinful to kill the insects. So we did not spray any chemicals.”
Farmer,
Neten Dorji
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Neten Dorji says there are thousand grasshoppers in each paddy field. He said he has never seen grasshoppers attacking paddy in the past.
“In my 40 years, I have never seen such attack.” He said the insects started appearing about three months ago.
The Agriculture Extension Supervisor of Tongzhang Gewog, Tshering Tenzin, said insecticides have been sprayed in the fields where grasshopper outbreak has been reported. He said this is the first outbreak and the Dzongkhag is monitoring the situation twice a week.
