Nai Marn : The outpour of workers from Mon State and subsequent low availability of workers is causing difficulty for farm owners during harvest time in Mon State.
“Right now Kauk kyi (*variety of paddy which takes a longer time to cultivate) must be harvested, but there are no workers to help with the harvest. We have harvested only a few acres of rice, but the grains will fall if we don’t have enough workers to harvest these paddies,” said a 68-year old farmer in Panga villager, Thanpyuzayart Township.
Workers have decreased year by year in Mon State. Nowadays, employers from Mon State depend on workers from upper Burma to get their harvest done. Employers are competing to get workers and daily wages for workers have increased due to their scarcity.
“Every village is facing a scarcity of workers. In the past, employers paid a daily wage, but currently, they have to pay per acre harvested. Last year they paid 12,000 kyat per acre and this year, the price has increased to 15,000 kyat per acre,” explained one farmer.
One 70-year-old farmer said that payment styles are different. Some farms pay daily wages of 3,500 and 4,000 kyat when the villages are located nearby. “Previously we were able to hire workers easily during the harvest and cultivation period. But not now. We cannot find any Mon workers. Employers must request help from migrant workers in upper Burma.”
Workers from Mon State have been migrating to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore causing a decrease in Mon workers for these farms. Because of this, employers have had to hire workers from Pegu, Rangoon, and Irrawaddy Divisions.
Still, finding workers is difficult because villagers from these upper Burma area have also migrated to Thailand, explained a farmer from Mudon Town who hired workers from Waw Township. “Now employers have increased wages because there are hardly any workers. Some have even paid equal wages for women and men, but not all,” explained a Mudon farmer.
Employer have even been forced to give a partial payment to workers in advance to hold on to their workers.
