In a village called Sati Agirigi, many farmers lived in thatched huts.

They also built huts as barns. They kept produce from their farms in the barns.

My parents, my siblings and I lived in three thatched huts, far from the farmlands.

We also had a big barn for our farm produce.

We planted many different crops on our farm.

We farmed yams, maize, cassavas, beans and groundnuts.

During harvest seasons, my parents and my siblings and I worked hard.

We brought home the crops and put them in the barn.

We earn our living from our farm produce. Our mother usually takes some to sell on market days.

We keep some produce for food, and planting during the next planting season.

One day as we planted crops on the farm, my brother's hoe handle broke.

My mother sent me home to fetch another hoe from the barn.

When I reached home, I threw open the door of the barn.

To my surprise, many rats of all sizes were running everywhere, looking for places to hide.

They ran into heaps of yam tubers and between stacks of bags of maize, cassava and beans. They disappeared quickly.

All was quiet. I now knew why our full bags of groundnuts shrink every day.

When I told my father, he was not surprised.

"Most of the rats come from the bush through holes in the barn walls. Rats spread diseases. That's why I always say we must cook food before eating it," he said.

When we came back home, we cooked.

After we ate, our father explained that one of the diseases spread by rats was Lassa fever, which can cause death.

Rats also carry many other serious diseases.

The next morning, we stayed at home.

We took out all the produce from the barn and blocked the rat holes in the walls with cement.

We also cleared the bushes close to our home.

That will help to keep the rats away from our huts and barn.

Rats do not like clean, clear places.