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SAGAING DIVISION – It is reported that rice planting could not be done in farms near the town of Wetlet as well as around the villages where junta forces are stationed in Sagaing Division.
The effected farms are said to be those near Wetlet Town and the villages of Hanlin, Sainangyi, Sainanlay, Yathagyi and Padu and it is not possible to farm there as some of the residents have fled while those that tried to work in the farms were shot by junta forces and their subordinate Pyu Saw Htee thugs.
“Forget planting rice, you get shot at by junta soldiers and Pyu thugs when you enter the fields. What kind of farmer could work in that situation? There’s no choice but the leave the farms just like that. I can’t say the exact number of farms but there are definitely a large acres of farms like that,” said a local woman who added that farming requires manpower but it is impossible to get hired labour.
At present, in the villages of Wetlet Township, a sack containing 24 pyi of good quality rice costs 110,000 kyats while a sack of rice normally consumed by residents costs 85,000 kyats, almost a two fold increase in price compared to before the coup.
Just this January, due to junta and Pyu forces confiscating a harvester and a tractor harvesting paddy near Thilone Village and Zeephyukone Village in Shwebo Township, over a hundred acres of paddy fields couldn’t be harvested.