SHAN STATE – One of the locals from the western part of Pekon stated that the displaced people including local farmers who mainly rely on the agriculture for their livelihoods have been facing difficulties as the prices of rice, edible oil and salt as well as petrol and diesel, and fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture have risen exorbitantly since the ongoing military coup.
“We couldn’t work on large agricultural areas as we couldn’t afford the petrol cost of harvest machine due to the exorbitant price of petrol and diesel now. We couldn’t do as much as we want when we can only rely on manpower. And that could not be enough to cover the livings of the whole family,” one of the local farmers who had relied on the farm, cultivating rice, corps, and peanuts for his family’s living at the western part of Pekon since before the coup, elaborated on how he has been doing currently.
In addition, even though the displaced people fleeing from the downtown of Pekon Township toward the western part of the Town have rented the farmlands from the locals and cultivated rice and corps, the harvest rate have lowered since they could not afford using fertilizers.
“We have been displaced and taking shelter here for over two years. As the commodity prices have risen much higher this year than last year, we couldn’t buy fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to use in farming. If we couldn’t use those nowadays, the harvest rate would have lowered in half,” one of the local displaced ladies said.
Furthermore, the commodity prices have continuously risen since the cargo trucks could not pass through freely everywhere due to the current political and military situation and are subject to enormous extortation at the junta’s inspection gates.