Irrawaddy-Mar 25
Widespread fuel shortages exacerbated by regime mismanagement are threatening to slash yields from Myanmar’s rice harvest next month, warn farmers in the Ayeyarwady Delta. Fuel prices have surged unpredictably since early March after the junta imposed rationing amid a supply squeeze from the war-torn Middle East, triggering chaos and long queues at gas stations nationwide. Public anger is mounting over the fuel distribution, with the “odd-even” refill scheme and digital rationing criticized as impractical and plagued by technical errors. The fuel crisis is impacting every business sector but has come at the worst possible time for agriculture. Rice farmers face diesel shortages and price spikes just when they need fuel to pump groundwater for the April harvest. “The diesel price is fluctuating out of control and has doubled in recent days,” a farmer from Ayeyarwady Region’s Pantanaw Township told the Irrawaddy. Myanmar already faces a severe food crisis, with over a quarter of the population regularly going hungry, according to the UN’s World Food Program. The agency warned that any further drop in rice yields could push millions more into hunger. Delta rice farmers cultivate two crops annually. While the monsoon crop relies on rainfall, the December-April summer season requires diesel-powered irrigation pumps.
However, since the fuel crisis began, the cost to irrigate a single acre of rice has doubled from 150,000 kyats (US$ 80) to 300,000 kyats, according to farmers. On March 4, a regime spokesperson reported that Myanmar’s gasoline and diesel reserves totaled 130 million gallons, enough to last 40 days. Yet, despite the official reassurances, filling stations across the country are reportedly running dry. The fuel shortage is also stalling combine harvesters crucial to Myanmar’s increasingly mechanized rice production. Read more at:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/business/regime-fuel-rationing-threatens-myanmars-rice-harvest.html
