Mizzima

The yearly paddy production of Myanmar in 2022 is forecast at 24.7 million tonnes at the end of its last harvest in late June, according to the report of Global Information and Early Warning System of UN Food and Agriculture published on 14 June.

The overall production is 8 per cent below the five-year average due to the low yield as farmers faced challenges in skyrocketed agricultural inputs impacted from the February 2021. Cash shortage resulting from the banking crisis has suspended agricultural loans to the farmers.

The assessment is for 2022, published in June 2023. 

The agricultural sector is the backbone of Myanmar’s economy, contributing 32 per cent of the country’s GDP and 56 per cent of the workforce. However, the military takeover in 2021 have had serious impacts on the agricultural sector, like others revenue sources of garment production, industry, the retail and wholesale trades, and exports and imports. 

Armed conflicts are intensifying in the central Myanmar regions of Sagaing and Magway which are the third and fifth largest paddy production areas of the country. Many farmers have turned into internally displaced persons (IDPs) and they could not return to work in their paddy fields due to fear of land mines and the actions of military troops in some areas. 

Domestic prices of common rice qualities last month were more than double the already high levels of a year earlier due to lower outputs and difficulties in transport of food to people in need. It is predicted that the price-hike will worsen if the IDPs cannot return to their work do to a lack of stability in their areas.