By Hanthar Hein - Jun 25, 2024

According to farmers from all over the country, the price of fuel and general expenses have increased and the rental price of tractors has also increased exponentially in this year's rainy rice season.

They said that a liter of diesel fuel costs more than 2,800 per in Yangon, and depending on the purchasing conditions in the towns and cities, it costs more than 3,000 - 4,000 kyats per liter.

The price of agricultural equipment has also increased due to the exponential increase in the dollar price and the fuel prices.

The average expenses for farming in this rainy season are 15,000 kyats for daily wage of a worker, 140,000 kyats for renting a tractor for 1 acre of farm,  125,000 kyats for a bag of Phosphate fertilizer, 100,000 kyats for Pale Bio Fertilizer, 5,000 kyats per bag for neutral fertilizer (chicken manure) and 1,500 kyats for cow manure fertilizer, 60,000 kyats for pesticides to use for 1 acre, 50,000 kyats for Thet Nge Rice seeds for 1 acre, 80,000 kyats for Myo Thant Rice seeds for 1 acre, spraying workers wages, water level adjustments expenses and harvesting price cost 120,000 kyats per acre (last year’s price) as well. 

"Even if we have a tractor at home, the price of fuel is high, so we can't buy it easily. It's still common to plow with oxen as before. After the coup d'état, we went down from mechanized farming to oxen farming as before," said a farmer in Baguio.

At present, most of the farmers have bought and used cows instead of tractors, so the market for cows has also increased, according to cattle breeding entrepreneurs.

"The cattle breeding market is raising. A youth cow cost 14 – 15 lakhs. A really good cattle cost around 25 lakhs," said a cattle breeder from Wan Dwin Township, Mandalay.

Due to the recovery of the cattle market, about 70 percent of goat breeders have switched to cattle breeding.