Failure to fill rice quota sends farmers to the can

Failure to fill rice quota sends farmers to the can

Human Rights

More than 30 farmers who had fled from a township near Taunggyi told S.H.A.N. some 50 people from their own village had recently been imprisoned due to their failure to fulfill their quota of rice to be sold to the official procurement agencies. 

"Every household, whether or not it made a living by growing rice, were required to sell 80 tang (1 tang = 54 liters) to the government", said a Pa-O farmer from Wan Pong, Nawngwawn Tract, Hsihseng Township (60 miles south of Taunggyi). "As a result, many of our fellow villagers have gone to jail. About 20 of them still remain in custody because their families were unable to pay the fines." 

The refugees included Shan, Yanglai (Striped Karen) and Pa-O. 

Two years earlier, on 15 January 2001, the farmers in the same township staged a rally protesting what they termed as the exorbitant rice demands from the military authorities resulting in the arrest of 30 of their leaders. A few days afterwards, an officer from Taunggyi visited the township where the farmers were told: "You don't own the land. You are only using the land owned by the State with its permission. Those who fail to sell according to the quota are liable to go to jail under Section 406 and 420." 

Sai Panlu, a prominent member of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy was a casualty of the incident, said a source from the area. "He had been forced to quit the party since," he explained. 

The market prices vary from one township to another, ranging between 1,000 - 2,200 kyat per tang (tin in Burmese). "This is the worst year for every farmer," said a Shan. "It has particularly become hell for us since the year 2000, when they began boosting up their rice export figures." 

More than a million acres of paddy fields in central Burma went under water during last year's flood, according to reports from other news agencies. 

In addition to the rice quota, farmers are also required to work in the army-owned paddy fields that were confiscated from them, they said. "We were forced to grow dry-season rice for the army," said a farmer from Hpakhay, Mongton Township, just across the border from Chiangmai, where 5 acres of land was seized by Infantry Battalion 225. "In 2001, the yield fell short of that of the rainy-season crop, and each household had to pool in 220 kyat to make up for the gap."