Due to a shortage of rice harvesting machines, farmers in the villages of Manpang and Dunbang in Kamaing Township, Kachin State are worried that harvesting will be delayed.
In the past up to seven rice harvesting machines would carry out the harvest in these two villages. Some of those were owned by locals, others were rented from further away. But, this year, only five harvesters were available. This meant that some farmers had to rely more on manual labour to harvest the rice, which causes more waste and damage to the rice paddy than the mechanical harvesters.
Previously farmers in Manpang and Dunbang villages would rent machines from Indaw Township in Sagaing Region and the townships of Hopin, Monghnyin, and Mogaung in Kachin State.
However, since 2023, the junta has set up checkpoints on the routes from these townships to Manpang and Dunbang villages. Because the junta demand such high tolls for allowing the rice harvesting machines to pass the checkpoints it has become uneconomic to hire them, leading to the current shortage of harvesters.
An increase in fuel prices has also raised the cost of moving rice harvesting machines any distance, according to a farmer from Manpang Village.
He said to MNJ: “Even when harvester machines do arrive in the villages, it isn’t sufficient. With fuel prices skyrocketing, some machine owners are reluctant to transport their equipment over long distances. Meanwhile, farmers are facing additional difficulties as their paddy sales have also declined.”
Manpang and Dunbang villages typically harvest paddy from early November to mid-December each year, but by early December this year, only about a third of the total 3,000 acres of farmland in the villages had been harvested.
Usually all the rice is harvested by mid-December, but this year, due to the difficulties they face in harvesting, some farmers in Manpang and Dunbang villages are saying that the harvest will not be complete until mid-January.
The farmers still have unsold rice harvested in January, October and November. This early harvested rice, known locally as Kauksaw rice is not as popular with consumers and the farmers are having difficulties selling it, which means they have even less money put aside to rent rice harvesting machines.
To make matters worse the price of rice has dropped from 15,000 MMK per bushel (approximately 22 kg) in 2023 to 7,000MMK a bushel now.
Renting a rice harvesting machine costs about 250,000 MMK per acre of rice paddy. For some farmers this is now too expensive and they have had to instead resort to hiring day labourers to pick their rice for 15,000 MMK a day, even though they are not as efficient as the machines.
