A major leader of rice exports makes use of about 10,000 ducks after harvesting their crops to clean the fields of pests.
Called ‘ped lai thoong’ meaning ‘field chasing ducks’, flocks of ducks are released each year in central Thailand to eat unwanted creatures like snails, and stamp on rice husks that drop into the field from last harvest, flattening the soil and making it easier to plough for the next season.
This also enables farmers to avoid using chemical pesticides.
‘The benefit (for the breeder) is that we reduce costs to feed the ducks,’ said Apiwat Chalermklin, 34, a breeder who took over the business from his father,’ Apiwat Chalermklin, a duck breeder told Reuters.
‘And in return, for the rice farmer the ducks help eat pests from the farm and the farmers can reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides.’
According to ABC News, ducklings as young as 20 days old are used for this natural cleaning process, which provides them with a healthy and protein rich diet. They roam the rice paddies for about five months, after which they are taken back to their farm to begin laying eggs.
Watch the video of the ducks being released:
After harvesting the rice crop in Nakhon Pathom Province in Thailand, a flock of around 10,000 ducks is released from a pen and instinctively stream towards the flooded fields to devour pests such as snails hiding in the rice stubble https://t.co/BbgPTAPEaz pic.twitter.com/8W68HFNgbi
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2020
In South Africa, wine farms in the Western Cape such as Vergenoegd Löw use similar tactics and employ over 1600 Indian Runner Ducks to forage in the vineyards, happily dining on snails and keeping the lands pest-free.
Image: Screenshot from video
