Phnom Penh - The rocketing price of more conventional meats due to bird flu quarantines and world oil prices has doubled the market price of rat meat in Cambodia, local media reported Tuesday. Rat meat has become so valuable that rice farmers "in their hundreds" had set up sideline businesses catching rats and making them table-ready, reported the Khmer-language daily Kampuchea Thmey.
Whereas a kilo of the best quality rat meat went for around 50 cents two years ago, it now fetches up to 1.50 dollars, the paper reported.
Restrictions on imports of pigs and poultry in an attempt to limit the spread of avian influenza, or bird flu, combined with high petrol prices have pushed up the prices of more usual staples.
Cambodians in certain provinces have long caught rats as a protein source when rodent numbers reach a peak during the rice harvest and enjoy the meat roasted or dried as a snack while drinking.
