Furious over declining rice prices and struggling to make a living, around 1,000 farmers staged a protest in Mrauk-U, Rakhine (Arakan) State on May 8. The demonstrators called on the government to intervene and assist with the spiraling debt and lack of profits in the agriculture industry.
The protestors gathered at the Shittaung Temple around noon and marched around the town at 1pm while holding placards.
“The lives of the Arakan farmers are deteriorating day-by-day because successive governments have ignored our rights. That’s why we want the civilian-elected government to give special consideration to improving the lives of the farmers,” protest leader U San Tun Hla told Narinjara News.
He added that Mrauk-U’s farmers are living in poverty and are constantly faced with farming expenses that are not covered by the minimal profits of their industry.
“In the past years, the price for 100 tins (each tin is equivalent to 9 gallons) of regular rice was over K200,000 and the price for 100 tins of Shwe Wah Tun rice was over K300,000. Now, nobody even wants to pay K100,000 kyats for 100 tins of regular rice, so the farmers are facing a huge loss in profit,” he said.
Farmer U Min Naing told Narinjara News that the state’s farmers are also trapped in a debt cycle. With no profits from their crops, they are unable to pay off the bank loans Increasing commodity prices are also pushing marginalized farmers further into the red, he said.
“We are protesting to let the government know about our difficulties,” U Min Naing said.
The farmers demands of the government include raising the price of rice, forgiving debts owed to the Myanmar Agriculture Development Bank, issuing loans with no interest and protecting farmers from losing their land to development projects.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by Laignee Barron
