Farmers in Irrawaddy Division are no longer able to grow monsoon paddy due to soaring prices of diesel and fertilizer, which are important for paddy cultivation.
Farmers grow paddy mainly using diesel to drive agricultural machinery, and urea to increase paddy yields. Fertilizers such as T-Super; Herbicides Mainly use pesticides. Now, with more than 10,000 gallons of diesel and more than 100,000 bags of fertilizer, prices have skyrocketed, leaving tens of thousands of poor farmers unable to grow monsoon paddy.
If a poor farmer grows paddy, he does not have his own machine, so he has to rent a machine. In addition to engine rents, diesel prices are skyrocketing and costs are higher. After planting with sorghum, the soil (fertilizer) can not be added. It is almost 100,000 per bag of oil. So the cost of planting and reselling the paddy is no match, so the poor farmer has stopped planting in this year’s monsoon paddy. In Irrawaddy Division, about one-third are poor farmers. It is estimated that tens of thousands of farmers will not be able to grow paddy this monsoon.
In Sagaing Division, where paddy is the main crop, there is fighting for almost the whole area, which could reduce the acreage by a lot.
