Rats have destroyed paddy fields in the mountains on the western Burmese border as well as some other fields in inner Arakan State recently, an official from the Agriculture Department in Rathidaung said.

He said, "We went to the area to investigate the incident after some farmers informed our department that rats had destroyed some paddy farms there."

The farms that were affected are in Rathidaung Township, 20 miles north of Arakan State's capital, Sittwe. The mountain range connects other mountains along the border with Bangladesh.

"We saw nine acres of paddy farms in the plains and 1.6 acres of mountain paddy farms that were destroyed in the Kyauk Tan Village Tract area, north of Rathidaung. This is the first time in our township that rats have destroyed paddy farms after bamboo blossomed in the area," he said.

Last year, bamboo plants blossomed in forests on many of the mountains in Arakan State, an event that is usually accompanied by an increase in the population of rats. However, no farms in Arakan were affected by rats last year.

The official said, "The rats entered Arakan looking for food after many mountain paddy farms along the western Burmese border were picked clean by them. We are closely watching the situation for the future."

A local farmer said the officials from the agricultural department sprayed insecticides in the paddy fields to prevent rats coming to the area again to destroy more paddy fields.

Rats in the border area between Bangladesh and Burma are roaming in large groups looking for food, and have destroyed many mountain paddy fields along both sides of the border.