Local news

Pests in the paddy

Farmers face bad harvest

Chirm Pobwalee, an assistant village head in Ayutthaya�s Sena district, shows rice damaged by pests.

Nearly 10,000 rai of paddy fields in the Sena district of Ayutthaya have been destroyed by aphids and other pests.

Village head Amnuay Yingyong said on March 27 that 1,700 rai of paddy fields in tambon Lad Nga were badly damaged. He said that unless action was taken in the next few days, the crops would be lost.

Wanlop Ampanthong, 47, a debt-ridden farmer in the district, took his life recently after pests wiped out his entire crop.

Sena district agriculturist Kriengsak Promkredthong said that the Department of Agricultural Extension gave farmers free pesticide.

As for financial compensation, 414 baht per rai will be paid to affected farmers.

Get the word out

Website to promote heritage site

The number of tourists visiting the World Heritage towns of Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai in Sukhothai province and Kamphaeng Phet in Kamphaeng Phet province, has fallen sharply.

Concerned by the shrinking numbers, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the Fine Arts Department have launched a new website promoting Sukhothai.

�We have found that tourists spend less than three hours at each site on average, and very few visit all of the three historical sites, as they think that all historical parks are the same,� Tharapong Srisuchat, director of the department�s office of archaeology, said on March 27.

[EASY NEWS FOR M1-3]

Closed book

Two arrested in book bust

Police arrested two people for making fake school textbooks. They were caught in Roi Et on March 27.

Police found more than 31,000 fake textbooks.

They said that the textbooks are worth a lot of money.

	paddy (n): a field in which rice is grown aphid (n): a very small insect that is harmful to plants debt-ridden (adj): owing lots of money, especially when you cannot pay wipe out (phrasal v): to destroy or remove something completely pesticide (n): a chemical used for killing pests, especially insects shrinking (adj): becoming smaller in size or amount launch (v): to make a product available to the public for the first time fake (n): an object such as a work of art, a coin or a book that is not genuine but has been made to look as if it is