Taw Lawi – According to the Myanmar Agriculture Service (MAS) record, summer paddy quotas were not fulfilled to the Burmese authorities’ projections in the six townships of Moulmein district in Mon State.
Kyaikamayaw Township was set to use 55,600 acres, Moulmein Township was set to use 2,500 acres, Chaungzone Township was projected at 360, Mudon Township at 11,550 acres, Thaphyuzyart at 2,750 and Ye Township at 8,300 acres.
The actual amounts of paddy cultivated were 54,736 at Kyaikmayaw, 2,057 in Moulmein, 316 in Chaungzone, 10,796 in Mudon, 2,415 in Thanphyuzyart and 7,705 in Ye Township.
One summer paddy cultivator from Kwan Thar village in Mudon Township explained that the summer paddy was not cultivated to its full potential because of costs, lack of sufficient water for cultivation, and scarcity of local workers. Farmers received less profit because they had to use their own funds to buy fuel for water irrigation to their plots of paddy.
“We didn’t cultivate as much paddy as we had expected to because of problems on the farm land. Farm land is drying up and the soil is no longer rich. Moreover, land is becoming damaged due to the use of chemical fertilizers. (We) didn’t even make [in profit] the amount we spent on summer paddy (for fertilizer and fuel),” said the summer paddy cultivator.
A farmer from Kalort Tort villager at Mudon Township explained that the farmers don’t receive sufficient water from the dam. Mudon Township has two dams – Azin dam and Winphanon dam – but farmers are only allowed to use water from the Azin dam.
He further explained that “Winphanon dam was supposed to cultivate about 1500 acres for summer paddy. Actually less farmers cultivate in the Winphanon dam areas.” The land is uneven and therefore the water cannot get to all the paddy plots. “This is why most [farmers] don’t want to plant summer paddy. And they focus on rubber plantation to receive a higher income.”
Kyaikmayaw Township cultivated the most summer paddy in Moulmein district at 40,000 acres from irrigation through the Ataran River.
