CNI News
6 November 2023
Farmers in Rakhine State sold their harvesting and threshing machines to those who bought at a high price and at present, they can't buy these machines again.
So, the farmers there are in need of the machines now, said farmers.
Buyers from Ayeyarwady, Bago, Magway and Yangon came and bought the machines at a high price and farmers in Rakhine State sold their machines.
Although farmers could buy harvesting and threshing machines with loans from Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank or by instalment three years ago, because farmers have to buy the machines in cash, they can't buy them.
Moreover, because a harvesting and threshing machine was paid 500 lakh kyats in the past, it was very difficult for the farmers to buy them again, U Maung Thein Hla, secretary of Mrauk U Township Danyawady Farmers Federation, told CNI News.
While seeing a harvesting and threshing machine
" About three or four years ago, if you wanted to buy a harvesting and threshing machine, if you had 1,630,000 kyats and 10 acres, you would be able to buy one. At that time, the price was around 500 lakh kyats.If you had given one third, you would have paid the rest four times within two years. But now if you want to buy a machine, you must buy it in cash. Farmers faced with Covid-19 pandemic and instabilities. We had a drought last year. We experienced Mocha cyclone this year. We are in debt to pay the Agricultural Bank. The current price of a harvesting and threshing machine is 960 lakh kyats. The machines that our farmers bought at about 500 lakh kyats were used for three to four years after which the farmers sold the machines at 500 lakh kyats, considering they made a profit."he said.
The number of harvesting and threshing machines sold from Rakhine State is estimated to be by the hundred. So, Rakhine state needs the machines very badly this year.
While seeing a harvesting and threshing machine
Many youths in Rakhine State sold harvesting and threshing machines to go abroad for work. When they wanted to buy the machines again, because the price was so high that they could not buy the machines, U Maung Htwee, a farmer from Kyauktaw Township told CNI News.
" The number of harvesting and threshing machines has decreased about 25 percent, I think. Rakhine youths sold their machines to go abroad for work. Most of the machines have reached the mainland.
People used to buy the machines with the credit system. For example, you have to pay 100 or 200 lakh kyats for the first time and the rest must be paid within five or six months. If so, people can buy it. But if they have to pay about 900 lakh kyats in one go, they can't buy it." he said.
There are over 1,200,000 rainfed cultivation acres in Rakhine State and the state is in need of over 300 harvesting and threshing machines. Mrauk U township needs about 120 machines and Kyauktaw township, over 100 machines, according to the Danyawady Farmers Federation.
Farmers have asked the Rakhine State Rice Millers Association and the Rakhine State Council for help to use the machines in time.
When the farmers did not get the machines in time, if rice paddy had to be harvested with man power, in addition to having to reap at the post-harvest period, the costs would be higher.
Ripe rice plants caught fire due to heat in the previous years. Farmers are worried that it will happen like that again this year.
