Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA)
The regime’s new plan
to re-buy paddy at low price from farmers
Although
the regime declared that it would no longer buy paddy from farmers as previous
years, however, it adopts a new plan to buy paddy from farmers.
The
regime SPDC’s Myanmar Agriculture Products Trading
(MAPT) even does not directly involve in buying paddy from farmers at low price
as previous years, but it has used ‘Merchant Association’ to buy instead of the
department.
In order
to buy paddy at low price from farmers,
The
local authorities organized the local traders who involved in buying paddy from
farmers with normal price and forced them to form the ‘Merchant Associations’
and then instructed to buy paddy from farmers at set low price. The Associations also have to use the old
system in buying paddy and so the farmers have to sell the set amount of paddy
depending on how many acres of lands they belonged.
According
to the decision adopted in meeting between the military leaders and the
Associations, they farmers must be restricted in transport of their crops and
husking of their crops, if they do not agree to sell the set amount of paddy to
the Associations.
Local
SPDC authorities also set the order to the Association, how many tons of paddy from which Township they need to buy.
The
Association would pay about Kyat 170, 000.00 (approximately 170 US Dollar) for
100 baskets of paddy (about 4600 pound weight) and the authorities allow only
traders from the Association to buy paddy from farmers in Mon State. The price of paddy in the market is about
Kyat 300, 000.00 for 100 baskets of paddy.
The
members of the Associations have full right to buy crops from farmers and they
also have to pay Kyat 10, 000.00 for membership fee to the authorities.
But in
southern part of Ye Township, in where the regime has no firm control, the
local military battalion ordered the farmers to give 4 baskets of paddy per
acre to the Burmese Army as tax, without receiving any cash.