Burmese government officials are forcing farmers in Mudon township to plant a second crop of paddy rice, in hopes of compensating for the significantly decreased rainy season crop of this year.

Rice paddy farmers from Doe Mar, Klort-tort, Taungpa, Kwan-ka.bue have been forced to grow summer paddy according to local residents. One area farmer told IMNA the demand came from members of the Mudon Township Peace and Development Council, which ordered farmers whose paddy fields are beside the dams, to grow a second season of rice paddy.

There are two dams in Mudon Township, the Winphanon and Azin dam. Approximately 2000 acre of paddy field are planted about the Winphanon dam while 1,500 acres of paddy are planted around the Azin dam.

After the harvest of the rainy season rice paddy, the chairman of Mudon TPDC called village headmen and representative villagers from Mudon Township to a meeting on December 2nd. There, headmen and villagers were told they would have to grow the summer paddy in their own fields.

“We do not want to grow the summer paddy because we would have to spend a long time to do it, and we get only small product,” a farmer told to IMNA. “Also the soil is not good enough for the summer paddy. If we grow summer paddy, we will not make any profit. We cannot even pay the wages needed to hire a summer paddy worker. Stil, we have to grow it on their orders.”

According to a source close to a former officer of the Burmese agricultural department, planting a second crop of rice so quickly after a harvest puts enormous strain on nutrients in the soil. On average farmers must use 3 to 4 bags of fertilizer or dung per acre to fertilize a summer season paddy crop. Sumer season crops are generally planted in January and harvested by May.

Last year, only 700 acres of paddy field by Azin dam was actually cultivated. The majority of the remaining land had been left unplanted due to orders from the Burmese army. However this year farmers are being ordered to plant and harvest up to 2,000 acres of paddy field by that dam.

The main justification for increased rice production has been economic. According to a local farmer, the TPDC told him that, in order for the economy of Burma to be strong, all farmers have to grow this new summer paddy.

This season’s rice harvest has been significantly reduced due to a series of disasters that have struck rice farmers in Mon state. As previously reported by IMNA on December 8th, both sever flooding and insect and rodent infestations have ravaged the rainy season crop. The result has been a dramatic rise in rice prices, providing immediate economic benefit to farmers. Yet increased sales prices of paddy have raised concerns over the possibility of food shortages and costs for replanting the next season’s crop.

According to a source close to an officer working in the government agriculture department, the forced summer paddy crop is an attempt to compensate for these losses. “Due to flooding in rainy season, the rainy paddy product is less than last year. So the TPDC has forced farmers to grow the summer paddy in order to compensate for looses of the rainy season paddy product. Previously, the government had planned to grow 7,000 acre of summer paddy in Mon state. But now the farmers have to grow summer paddy fields on over 10,000 acre.”