Sittwe: The prices of fertilizer in Arakan State fell during this year's paddy season, but Arakanese farmers are still unable to afford an adequate supply for their farms, said one farmer from Pauktaw Township.
 
He said, "The price of fertilizer fell this paddy season after a large amount of Chinese-made fertilizer entered Arakan State through central Burma. But we can not purchase the fertilizer as our farms demand because we have no money on hand."
 
The price of urea fertilizer, known as than gwin, or black fertilizer, went from 42,000 kyat to 22,700 kyat per sack this year while other kinds of urea fertilizer went from 34,000 kyat to 22,400 kyat per sack.
 
"We could not use enough fertilizer for our farms last year because the price was higher than we could afford. This year the fertilizer price is low, but we still can not buy it because there is no money in farmer's hands," he added.
 
Farmers in Arakan State have no money because the prices for rice have also fallen since last year's paddy season.
 
100 baskets of paddy could be sold for 180,000 kyat in the markets last year, but this year the same amount of paddy sells for just 90,000 kyat in Arakan.
 
Another farmer from Amyint Kyunt Village in Sittwe Township confirmed that farmers in Arakan State lost money last year because the price of rice fell during last year's paddy season.
 
The Burmese military government allocated 200 million kyat this paddy season for loans to Arakanese farmers through the government agricultural bank, but most farmers in rural areas have been unable to access these loans because of misappropriation by the local government authorities.
 
A farmer from Maungdaw Township on the western Burmese border said that the authority in Maungdaw District lent the money to model villagers instead of farmers. He reports that there are no farmers in Maungdaw Township who received the government loan this year.
 
The state of Arakan is the third largest rice producer in Burma, but the living standard of farmers has remained unimproved since Burma's independence in 1948 because the central government has failed to provide adequate infrastructure or technology to farmers in the state.