CNI News
7 March 2024
The current harvesting fee for summer and winter rice paddy has increased by more than 30,000 kyats, according to farmers.
Although harvesting fee for summer rice paddy was about 100,000 kyats per acre last year, the fee currently has been from 130,000 to 150,000 kyats. However, the price of paddy was about 16 lakh kyats per 100 baskets last year and at present, the price has been 22 lakh kyats.
So, harvesting fee also increased, U Thein Aung, chairman of the Farmer Development Association, told CNI News.
"It's no wonder because in the past, harvesting fee was equal to the price of 8 baskets of paddy. Although the fee has increased, it's not more than the price of 8 baskets of paddy now. In comparison with the price of paddy, you can't say the harvesting fee is expensive. At a time like this last year, Thukha (kind of paddy) became about 16 lakhs. But its price has been 22 lakh kyats now. The price of paddy has gone up by 6 lakh kyats on average.”he said.
While harvesting rice
Winter paddy is currently harvested and farmers have started harvesting summer paddy in Ayeyarwady Region. Starting from April, summer paddy will be reaped in all townships reportedly.
Although the cost of harvesting and threshing increased, because the price of rice received by farmers was higher than before, farmers didn't make a loss, said farmers. In the past, because the harvesting was conducted by manpower, it was costlier than at present. In the same way, because the machine maintenance costs are also rising, the current harvesting fee is reasonable, U Aye Naing, a farmer from Bogale Township, told CNI News.
While harvesting rice
" Farmers in Dedaye, Kungyangon and Pyapon have started reaping summer rice. The cost of harvesting and threshing has increased. Maybe it's from 1.2 to 1.5 lakh kyats. It's lower than the price of 10 baskets of grain. So, you can't say that the fee for harvesting and threshing is expensive. 100 baskets of grain can be produced from one acre on which additional cultivation is conducted. We can sell 100 baskets of grain at 20 lakh kyats. If we hire a harvester and thresher machine, it costs us less than using manpower." he said.
The yield of summer grain is good this year and 100 baskets of grain can be produced from an acre. So, although the cost for cultivation on an acre was 15 lakh kyats, according to the current price of grain, farmers can make a profit of 500,000 kyats per acre, said farmers.
