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VERTEBRATE PEST CONTROL

 What are Vertebrate Pest?
Ans. The animals with back bones but damage agricultural produce in field and storage are called vertebrate pests viz rats, mice, wild pigs birds, bats, squirrel etc.

 

What type of losses the rats cause?
Ans. The damage caused by rats include crop damage, grain damage in storage and structural damage in house, shops and commercial areas.

 

What is the extent of damage to field crops by rodents in Pakistan?
Ans. Rodents inflict severe losses to standing cereal and other crops in field and wheat, paddy, maize and sugarcane are a few. The extent of damage ranges from 5% upto 43% in wheat in central Punjab.

 

Are the rats carrier of various type of diseases?
Ans. Yea. Rats are carrier of different type of diseases through ecto and endo parasites like fleas, ticks and mites etc. like plague, oriental sore and rat bite fever.

 

How we can control the rats and wild pigs?
Ans. We can control rats and wild pigs through various type of traps and chemical poisoning. The attractive bait is mixed with acute or chronic rodenticides alongwith different additive to formulate ready to use bait. For rats "PARC rats bait" mixed with Brodifacoum rodenticid is very effective and palatable while for pig control, wax-coated capsule embedded with zinc phosphide proved very effective.

 

What has PARC done to help / support the farmers for the control of vertebrate pests?
Ans. Vertebrate Pest Control Institute of P ARC has supported the stake-holders through arranging Farmer's field day, seminars and workshops and on-site field demonstration through use of kill traps and poison baiting in Sindh and Balochistan Provinces. So far 250 Farmer's field days have been organized during last five years in which 8700 end-users were trained in vertebrate pest management.