Narinjara news
Rice purchase for the year 2003 in
Sittwe, 23rd December 02: The
Burmese junta, SPDC, have stuck notices on boards in the agriculture
corporation offices and at rice purchase depots asking the relevant officials
to collect rice worth US$ 270 million from across Rakhine State in the western
part of Burma, according to our correspondent.
Beginning September 15th the junta officials have ordered the rice
growers to harvest rice. The farmers and
rice growers have been issued orders not to harvest even an acre of rice
without the prior permission of the relevant Village Peace and Development
Council (Yayaka) – the village level administrative
body of the Burmese junta. The Yayaka members have been engaged to supervise the day-to-day
harvesting process, keeping records of how much has been harvested.
All the privately owned rice mills, big and small, in the state have also been
ordered closed since the beginning of this year’s rice season. Just a handful of privately owned rice mills
that have good relations with the military intelligence personnel have been
reportedly operating under the blanket ban.
The price of rice in the open market is about five times more than what the
junta officials pay to the rice growers, which is plain exploitation, a rice
farmer told our correspondent. At
present 100 tin of rice sells at kyat 150,000 in the open market, while the
Burmese junta officials pay kyat 35,000 for the same.
The average per acre produce of rice is less than 28 tinns,
while the rice growers have to sell 12 tinns of rice
to the junta appointed rice collectors.
Besides that the farmers have also been ordered to sell all the rice
that they think more than the amount required by the family of the farmers’
consumption, a rice grower said.
Ninety percent people of