Farmers in Mon State are warning that there will be a severe decline in the monsoon rice harvest this year because an acute shortage of seasonal workers and high production costs are forcing them to reduce the amount of land they use for growing and switch to a less effective method of cultivating.
Prices of agricultural materials, especially fertilizer, have surged across the country this year and, in Mon State, there are few migrants looking for seasonal work due to military conscription and fighting, farmers say.
One farmer in Mon’s Thaton Township explained: “We have 50 acres [but] haven’t planted a single one so far. I’m afraid we can’t grow paddy this year. We can’t hire people to farm. Only elderly people are left in my village. Other farmers are in the same situation. They are either planting fewer acres or not planting at all.”
During the monsoon season last year, farmers in Mon State say they hired workers for 10,000 kyats per day, but even though they are offering up to 25,000 kyats per day this year, workers are hard to find.
Farmers in six of the state’s 10 townships – Bilin, Kyaikmaraw, Paung, Thanphyuzayat, Thaton and Ye – say they have reduced monsoon cultivation.
An advocate for farmers in the state said yields will also fall on the fields used because farmers do not have enough workers to transplant seedlings to fields and will have to, as a result, sow seeds.
“Farmers can’t transplant rice plants like they usually do. They can only sow seeds. So, the yield will definitely decline,” he explained, estimating that up to 80 percent of all rice farmers in Mon State will have to sow seeds instead of transplanting seedlings. This method of cultivation can reduce yields by 50 percent, he said.
In Mon State, monsoon rice is planted from mid-May to early July.
A farmer from Ye Township said: “We can only sow seeds after plowing. This is not good. The seeds can’t stand heavy rain. If production is low this year, rice prices will increase. The price of paddy seeds, which we need for the next cultivation season, will also increase.”
Rice is grown on about 700,000 acres in Mon State every monsoon season, according to the Agriculture and Livestock Ministry’s Agriculture Department.
Last year, flooding damaged fields in the state and drove many farmers into the red. They have been unable to repay loans from the state-owned Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank. As a result, they can’t get new loans this year.
The bank said it has been offering loans to farmers since May 20 at 5 percent interest, but only to those who have fully repaid loans and interest from last year.
One farmer in Paung Township said: “I want to grow paddy, but I can’t get loans from the bank. So, I’d have to borrow from moneylenders whose interest rates are high. And with prices only rising these days, I can’t take the risk.”
Farmers say the small size of the loans from Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank makes them insufficient to cover the cost of planting. Loans only cover the cost of planting for a maximum of 10 acres.
The price of fertilizer has surged in one year: from 130,000 kyats per sack last year to 200,000 kyats this year. The price of fuel has jumped 50 percent, from 2,000 kyats per liter last year to 3,000 kyats per liter this year.
Farmers also worry that the junta will try to control the price of rice and say this is another reason while some farmers are cutting back on planting: to minimize losses from a price cap.
A large-scale farmer in Bilin Township explained: “This year, I’m only farming fields near my home [because] the more acres I farm, the bigger the loss will be. The military has fixed the prices of gold, so we worry it might also fix the price of rice. That’s why I am farming fewer acres this year.”
He used to grow rice on more than 100 acres during the monsoon season. This year, he’s just using 20 acres.
