Farmers and Grass-roots in Myanmar

Mainly due to the political crisis in Myanmar, but also now the current crisis in Ukraine, the costs of basic commodities, fuel, food (both locally sourced and imported) and fertilizer has been spiking. For example, cooking oil and rice have doubled in price. According to a March 3rd BBC Burmese News report, 1 viss (Burmese measure, approximately 1.6 kilos) of coconut oil costs around 7,200 kyat, in contrast to one year ago when it was around 2,000 kyat per viss. Many other kinds of cooking oil have increased even more, around 3,000 kyats per liter. These increases mean a lot of pain for Burmese consumers on top of their on-going struggle against brutal military rule.

And of course, these issues are not disconnected. The price increases for commodities are due not only to the rise in fuel and other logistical costs. The junta’s military operations in the Sagaing Region has greatly affected agricultural output. A March 13th article in the Irrawaddy Burmese News refers to a report published by the Data for Myanmar, a free research institute, which states that the military had burned down at least 6,158 houses over the thirteen months since the coup, nearly 60% in the Sagaing Region. Because villagers do not know if or when they will need to suddenly flee from their homes and villages, they have stopped tending their fields. On top of that, some crops that were ready for harvest were burned during military raids, and many storage silos have been destroyed as well. Finally, though not related to Tatmadaw policy per se but adding to Myanmar farmers’ woes, some farmers who sold their produce in China have had to just abandon their produce near the border crossing due to the frequent border closures caused by the pandemic.

Another reason for the price hikes was explained by the owner of an oil mill in Monywa, who said that the junta had begun cutting off the electricity supply as of last month, so now the mills cannot run as usual. This tactic was also employed by the former military regimes before 2010. The people of Myanmar have not forgotten those days under the Thein Sein Administration when generals took off their military uniforms to sit in the seats of Parliament, and make remarkable public speeches about the need to tighten belts and make even more sacrifices, urging the people to reduce their food consumption to one meal per day, light candles instead of using electricity at night, etc. Just like them, the current junta’s leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has recently begun urging the people to reduce their consumption of cooking oils.

A mason who we recently talked to summed it up succinctly when he said, “As for me, it used to cost only about 1,000 kyat to fill the tank in my motorbike when I went to work. Now I spend 3,000 to 4,000 kyat for the same trip. These days, we even need to consider whether we can afford a cup of tea for breakfast.”