Groundnuts fetch good prices, but not commensurate profits, for Arakan growers

By Admin 22 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 April 2023, Sittwe

Groundnut growers in Arakan State say their profits are down due to high agricultural expenditures this year, despite the fact that the nuts are fetching good prices.

One viss of groundnut was sold at K1,800 to K2,500 last year. Groundnuts from Arakan State are in high demand from Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions and some oil mills in Arakan State, and fetch between 3,500 kyats and 4,000 kyats per viss this year.

“A basket of groundnuts weighing around eight viss and 50 ticals fetch around K33,000. The price of a basket of groundnuts was about K22,000. The price has increased by more than K10,000 this year,” said U Nyunt Tin, a groundnut merchant in Zayatgon Village, Manaung Township.

The Arakan State Department of Agriculture has told DMG that there are 82,481 acres of groundnuts under cultivation in Arakan State this year.

Groundnuts are grown on a commercial scale in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Mrauk-U and Minbya Townships. Peanuts are grown on a manageable scale in Kyaukphyu, Ramree and Manaung townships.

“Peanut growers are getting good prices for groundnuts, but they don’t reap much profit because they are growing the crops in the midst of rising prices for fertilisers and other agricultural costs,” said U Maung San Aye, a local farmer in Nagumay Village, Kyauktaw Township.

Arakan State’s agriculture industry as a whole, meanwhile, is declining as people leave the fields due to lack of modern technology, capital and market guarantees.

“There are few people doing agriculture in our area. As far as we have heard, there are fewer people planting peanuts this year than last year,” said U Maung Tin Win, a local farmer in Kyauktaw Township’s Kyarnyopyin Village.

There are more than 1.2 million acres of arable farmland in Arakan State, of which more than 542,000 acres are winter crops, with the area under winter crop cultivation decreasing by 60 percent, according to the Arakan Farmers Union.