Rat hunting season is here in the Mekong, bringing extra money for local farmers while helping them to protect their crops.

When the Mekong Delta floods, it is the ideal time for locals to hunt rice field rats to for eating. During this time, the rats are forced to leave their holes and this is the perfect time to catch them.

There are several ways to catch rats, including setting up traps, using arrows or dogs and even sling-shots. Using these methods, many farmers are able to catch 30-40 rats a day. These can then be sold at high rates for consumption.

Markets in southern provinces such as Soc Trang, An Giang, Dong Thap are filled with rats for sale during this time.

According to Nguyen Phuoc Dai, a wholesaler from An Giang Province, the price of rat meat has increased by VND 5,000-10,000 per kilo from last year’s prices. "We sell 30 to 50 kilos of rat meat every day," he said.

With fears that pork, chicken, fish and many other kinds of meat may be tainted because of local ways of raising animals with chemicals, people turn to rat meat as an alternative. This type of wild rat eats almost only rice, in contrast to farmed animals that are fed with antibiotics and other additives to increase production. For this reason many people think they are much safer fare, and also prefer the taste. The price of rat meat has gone up to 2 to 3 times higher than tra fish.

Nguyen Van Minh, of Tam Nong District, Dong Thap Province, said that rat meat is the best at the summer-autumn rice crop and so prices usually rise significantly at this time. The hunting of rats also brings some extra income to local economies, allowing farmers to protect their crops at the same time.