Farmers face financial losses due to decline in paddy yields

19 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
19 December 2024, Sittwe

Farmers in Arakan State are facing financial losses due to declining yields of paddy, which they have cultivated despite high agricultural input costs.

“Last year’s per acre yield was from 100 to 160 baskets of paddy, but this year’s per acre yield is only 80 to 100 baskets of paddy. This year, farmers are unable to apply fertiliser to their paddy fields and are also suffering from the effects of the weather. Farmers are facing difficulties in farming and are not getting enough paddy, so they are facing losses,” U San Lin, a local farmer from Khamaungtaw Village in Kyauktaw Township, told DMG.

Last rainy season, fertiliser prices were so high that most farmers were unable to use enough. In addition, thousands of acres of farmland were damaged by floods in Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships in July and August, forcing farmers to replant paddy.

During the current paddy harvest, in addition to the decline in crop yields and a lack of buyers, farmers are left with not only old paddy from last year but also paddy from this year's harvest that has not been sold.

“Paddy yields are reportedly lower this year compared to last year. Fertiliser prices were so high that most farmers were unable to use enough,” said U Aung Hla Sein, a local farmer from Tawpanzin Village in Kyauktaw Township.

“The price of fertilizer is around K400,000 per bag, so we can’t use it. My paddy farms were destroyed by flooding. We had to replant paddy. We had to pay 20,000 kyats for men and 10,000 kyats for women as daily wages. The price of high grade Paw Hsan Hmwe paddy for 100 baskets is only K600,000. The price of low grade paddy for 100 baskets is K450,000, so we are in a situation where we will lose a lot,” he added.

Farmers say that the Chamber of Commerce, overseen by the Arakkha Army (AA), is buying paddy from Arakan State, but it is not able to buy all the paddy from farmers and that merchants are not buying paddy from every village.

U Shwe Tin Maung from Shwe Nat Pyin Village in Ponnagyun Township said that in addition to the decline in paddy yields, farmers’ businesses are suffering because it is not easy to sell the paddy they produce.

“Farmers like us are facing losses. We want to sell the paddy produced in 2023 at a fair price. Otherwise, if this paddy is not sold, farmers will not have the capital to grow crops next year,” he added.

Rice from Arakan State was exported to mainland Myanmar and Bangladesh in previous years, but since the latest fighting in Arakan State began in November 2023, the regime has blocked off all land and water routes to Arakan State, leaving rice stranded in the state.

Farmers say United League of Arakan/Arakkha Army officials should work hard to ensure that the rice market becomes a market where rice can be purchased at a certain price.