Man-made disaster defeats tough farmers

Man-made disaster defeats tough farmers

Human Rights

Shan farmers in northern Shan State who had braved the year's flash-floods that killed their paddy crops are now caving in to an official order that will certainly mean a personal ruin that they can never hope to pull through, reports Mao Mao from the northern border:

"We were able to face up to a couple of heavy downpours," sighed a Shan villager, "only to be beaten by a mayaka (township peace and development council chairman) called Aung Aung Lwin."

The farmer and his fellow-villagers from Zawn-zaw, Muse township, opposite China's Ruili which the Shans call Mongmao, were talking about the order from Aung Aung Lwin on 28 October that required them to plant 25 acres of soybean as a model in anticipation of official visits to be made by his superiors.

The spot he had chosen also covered 10 acres of paddy yet to be harvested as they were planted late due to the rains that had twice wiped out the rice sprouts.

Accordingly, the farmers' objections were overruled and two days later, the fields were plowed to make way for the soybeans, whose seeds the farmers were also obliged to pay for. "That was the last straw," complained another. "The re-plantings had already cost us extra money and a huge debt. Now we were told to dig out our pockets again just to help him entertain his masters."

The seeds had to be purchased from the township office at 1,600 kyat per pay (3.3 liters) price. As farmers were required to sow 1 tang (16 pay) of seeds per acre, the total amount came to 640,000 kyat ($640), an extravagant sum for farmers in Burma.

Apart from soybeans, farmers in northern Shan State have, since 2002, been required to grow Hsin Shweli, a Chinese rice strain that is being advertised as a high yield rice crop. The project is part of the New Destiny Project launched in April 2002 to persuade farmers to exchange their poppy seeds for alternative crops. "The problem," says one rice trader, "is that it is not traditional poppy farmers but traditional rice farmers who are being forced to grow the Chinese seeds."