Flood-hit Bago farmers say repaying this year’s agricultural loans not possible

By Admin 22 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 October 2023, Bago
 
Farmers in Bago Region say they will not be able to repay their agricultural loans this year due to the destruction of ripe paddy fields from flooding and decreasing paddy yields, and the expectation that these conditions will lead to losses.
 
The water has receded in Thanatpin Township, Bago Region, but the paddy plants have been damaged by the flooding and cannot be harvested anymore, farmers said.
 
“We won’t be able to harvest paddy. We are in trouble and we don’t know how to make a living. We would like to ask concerned officials to help us,” said Ma Muyar, a local farmer from Sinohbo Village.
 
Upland areas did not experience major flooding, but the heavy rains and strong winds flattened many harvest-ready paddy plants, leading to widespread decreasing yields, according to farmers.
 
“All of my paddy farms were submerged by floodwaters. I will not be able to harvest ripe paddy, grown on five acres of farmland. Farmers in my village are disappointed with the floods,” said a local farmer in Kawa Township.
 
Bago Region’s General Administration Department is compiling a list of paddy fields destroyed by the floods, but no assistance has been given to flood-hit farmers, local farmers said.

The extent of the damage and destruction to paddy fields in Bago Region has been estimated at hundreds of thousands of acres, with the responsible floods triggered by incessant rains earlier this month.
 
“We are compiling a list of paddy fields destroyed by floods and I think the regional military council will help the flood-affected farmers,” said an official from the Bago District Department of Agriculture.