Unable to afford fertilizers, the price for which has doubled compared to last year, farmers are finding it extremely difficult to grow paddy this season. They are having to buy fertilizers in reduced quantities and that will affect productivity.
A farmer in Kamawet village in Mudon Township said most growers are grumbling because fertilizers have become expensive. They can buy it only after they sell paddy.
Urea fertilizers from China currently costs about 36,000 Kyat for a 50 kg bag. Previous it was about 16,000 Kyat. The cost of fertilizers from Thailand was 33,000 Kyat per bag earlier now it is about 52,000 Kyat.
Nai Kon, a farmer in Mudon who is currently cultivating about 30 acres of paddy field said "I got about 1,400 baskets after using fertilizers and I could just produce about 900 baskets last year without using fertilizers.
Due to be the high price of fertilizers, the farmers have to be thrifty in using it.
According to a fertilizer shop owner in Mudon sales of fertilizers have come down since the price of world oil is increasing including transportation cost from China.
Farmers in Burma use fertilizers imported from China, India, Bangladesh, and Thailand, according to a former manager of the Myanmar Agricultural Service (MAS). The Burmese regime produces about 0.1 million baskets per year, but Burmese farmers need about 0.5 billion baskets a year.
The former manger said the produce increase if fertilizers are used.
But some farmers use cow excreta and composite soil from villages in their fields in April.
According to The New Light of Myanmar, the Burmese government's agricultural bank provided about 8,000 Kyat as loan per acre to over 3,000 farmers in Mudon Township.
The Mudon farmer, Nai Kon said "Fertilizers are not difficult to find if you have money. There are a lot of shops in our town." Now the price of paddy in Mon State is about 5,800 Kyat per basket. Farmers will get little profit without using urea.
He added that most farmers are relieved since the Burmese government stopped buying paddy at a low price in 2003. Before that, the Burmese regime took about 10 baskets per acre.
