Irrawaddy-Oct 26
Rice farmers across Myanmar have voiced concern that the minimum price set by the regime is far below market rates and would not even cover their skyrocketing production costs. The regime’s Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Interests of Farmers last week set the minimum floor price for 100 baskets or about 2.09 tons of rice at 1.35 million kyats (around US$300) for monsoon paddy or unmilled rice harvested this year and summer paddy to be harvested next year. Farmers report that the current market price for 100 baskets ranges from 1.9 to over 2 million kyats, with some areas seeing around 3 million kyats. Premium Paw San rice is selling for 5 to 6 million kyats. “Here in Naypyitaw, the market price is 1.9 to 2 million kyats,” one farmer told The Irrawaddy. “And even at that rate, after deducting labor and other expenses, almost nothing is left. Costs are too high. Setting the base price at 13.5 million kyats is unacceptable.” In principle, the base rate is set only in case the market rate is for some reason lower and aims to ensure that farmers are paid fairly—in other words, farmers cannot be paid less than the base rate but can be paid more. But farmers fear the yawning gap between the two rates is apt to push down market prices to the point where they no longer make any profit at all. That means the regime is tacitly encouraging brokers to weaponize the base price to negotiate lower rates, and farmers burdened with debt will be forced to sell anyway. Instead, farmers say the calculation should take into account fertilizer, pesticide and labor costs plus loan interest. Farmers say they cannot buy supplies at the regime’s official prices either but must pay market rates for fertilizer, pesticides and harvest labor. “Fertilizer is sold for 80,000 to 150,000 kyats a bag, and if we buy on credit, monthly interest is 3,000 to 5,000 kyats for each 100,000 kyats borrowed,” said a farmer from Ayeyarwady Region. “So a base price of 1.35 million kyats doesn’t even cover expenses.” Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regimes-minimum-rice-price-a-license-to-squeeze-farmers.html
