High yield rice yields low

High yield rice yields low

Human Rights / Drugs

The much-vaunted imported strain from China, Hsin Shweli, was proven a dismal disappointment for most farmers in northern Shan State, according to social workers up there.

Hsin Shweli DU 527, introduced in 2002, was reported by the state-run New Light of Myanmar, 7 October 2003, to yield as high as 163 baskets (1 basket = 40.91 liters) per acre, and 160,000 acres of paddy fields had been earmarked by Rangoon for its monsoon project. (The Chiangmai-based Shan State Organization's Youth Chapter was able to locate 104,174 acres, see box)

The Hsin Shweli acreage

(2003)

F-1 = Acreage that uses seeds from China

F-2 = Acreage that uses seeds reproduced in Burma

"However, what the best fields in the north had been able to do was only 4 zaw (40 baskets)," said a social worker who asked not to be named. "Which is only a quarter of the official stipulation. But many did worse, some as low as 3 baskets per acre. It was altogether a most frustrating reward for all the money and troubles they had put into it."

The investment included:

• 10,000 kyat for seeds per acre
• 20,000 kyat for fertilizers (Pearl or D-Super brands)
• Rent of buffalo (5 baskets of paddy for every zaw harvested, compared to two zaws for the whole year for the native strain)
• Twice as much working hours ("Besides, Hsin Shweli takes more time, a month more than the Shan paddy, before it can be harvested," said a female social worker who had gone through the process.)

The seeds have to be purchased every year unlike Shan paddy, choice seeds of which can be kept for the next paddy season

"Worst of all is nobody wants to eat it and buy it," the social worker quoted farmers in Hsenwi as saying. "What's the point of going through all the trouble for nothing?"

According to other sources, local authorities in Hsipaw had in March broached the subject with Col Sai Yi, leader of the Shan State National Army. "They wanted him to persuade the farmers in his area to buy the seeds whether or not they were going to use it, because they needed to report it to their superiors in Rangoon," said an officer who was in Tachilek during the annual water-splashing festival (13-15 April). "He replied he would rather urge them to try planting Hsin Shweli to see whether it really worked. And if it didn't, he would lead the farmers against the project."

The Hsin Shweli project is part of the New Destiny Project, launched by Rangoon in April 2002, to encourage poppy farmers to exchange their poppy seeds for alternative crops. However, paddy farmers are complaining that they are being forced by Hsin Shweli to turn to poppy cultivation for survival instead.

Re: People collared for crop failure, S.H.A.N, 4 April 2003