Scarcity of local seeds bedevils Arakan State’s groundnut farmers

By Admin 06 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
6 October 2023, Mrauk-U

Farmers are reportedly facing difficulties growing groundnuts this year due to a scarcity of local seeds suitable for the climate and geography of Arakan State.

Farmers are currently ploughing their farmlands to grow groundnuts, but prices are rising due to a shortage of seeds, said Daw Tin Aye, a local farmer from Layhnyitaung Village in Mrauk-U Township.

“This year, local seeds are in short supply. The price of groundnut seeds has also doubled, so we have a lot of difficulty growing groundnuts,” she added.

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

About 15,000 acres of groundnuts are grown in the Laymyochaung area in Mrauk-U Township, where farmers are shipping groundnut seeds in from mainland Myanmar due to the scarcity of groundnut seeds in Arakan State.

“Groundnuts seeds from mainland Myanmar cannot be grown on my farmland,” said Daw Thein Thein, a local woman from Layhnyitaung Village. “Only local groundnut seeds can be grown on my farmland. The price of a bag of groundnut seeds [about four baskets of groundnut seeds] grown in Arakan State is about K450,000.”

The local peanut seeds that are currently being cultivated in Arakan State offer good crop yields and can be grown in any type of soil, while the seeds from mainland Myanmar have relatively low crop yields and can only be grown on loamy soil.

However, farmers in Arakan State can no longer rely on local varieties, so many are forced to transplant seeds from mainland Myanmar.

“Local groundnut seeds are completely scarce in the Yoe Chaung area. Many farmers grow groundnut seeds imported from mainland Myanmar,” said U Hsan Saw, a local man from Meeyatpyin Village in Kyauktaw Township.

Farmers say the scarcity of local seeds in Arakan State’s agriculture sector is due to the widespread use of synthetically produced seeds.

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.