Food and fuel prices are rising in Kachin State as Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacks on the Myitkyina-Putao road disrupt trade.
Fighting since March 9 has cut off trade from Myitkyina. Fuel and cooking oil prices have risen in Machanbaw Township with the fuel rising from less than 4,000 kyats (around US$1.08) per liter to 50,000 kyats, according to a resident.
“It is not because of fuel shortages. Filling stations are only selling to the black market and not to customers,” he told The Irrawaddy.
It has been nearly two months since fuel was delivered to the five townships in Putao District, where filling stations have been closed for almost a month, said residents.
“Farmers have been hit by diesel shortages. We traditionally used buffaloes and cattle to plough farms but the Chinese bought all the cattle and imported agricultural machinery. The farmers can’t work due to fuel shortages,” said a resident.
A resident shared a video of Putao men apparently pulling a plough.
Khaunglanhpu, Machanbaw, Nawngmun, Putao and Sumprabum township residents have to buy fuel from unlicensed roadside vendors as licensed filling stations are closed.
Kachin State’s junta-appointed chief minister, Khet Htein Nan, told Putao residents on April 30 that he would arrange for 1,000 barrels of fuel to be airlifted to farmers.
The regime said 40 barrels of diesel arrived on a military plane from Mandalay on May 1 but farmers told The Irrawaddy that they received no fuel.
“We can’t buy fuel, even if we have money,” a Putao farmer told The Irrawaddy.
Meanwhile, power cuts are being reported with Nawngmun residents saying they have electricity for an hour per day.
The KIA now controls the whole of Sumprabum Township, said the group’s information officer, Colonel Naw Bu.
“The road between Myitkyina and Putao has been blocked by fighting but we control the entire area so can reopen the road,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Putao District rice costs 180,000 kyats per sack as supplies from central Myanmar have run out and medicines are unavailable.
There are three to four flights between Putao and Mandalay a month, depending on weather conditions.
Since January, the KIA and its allies say they have seized over 80 junta outposts and occupied the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River between Waingmaw and Momauk townships.
