The scourge of rats in Laos

Over 100,000 people in the southeast Asian country of Laos are being given emergency food aid after a plague of rats wiped out much of the country's rice harvest.

The World Food Programme is delivering 5,000 tons of food supplies to seven provinces in the north of the country.

Already hungry communities have been hit by the worst rat infestation in decades, which destroyed much of last year's rice harvest.

Peter Crowden has been in the rodent business for 30 years and is the Director of the National Pest Technicians Association - the UK's largest pest control body.

First broadcast 17 July 2009