17 November

PADDY  yields  are  likely  to  de-cline  this  year  because  of  tor-rential rains in Dala Township, Yangon Region, said officials.

Some  paddy  fields,  which  are  almost  ready  to  harvest,  were destroyed by earlier rains which flooded them. 

“Some paddy fields in Dala Township are ready to harvest, while others have already yield-ed  their  crops.  We  found  some  paddy fields inundated with rain water, and some have been dam-aged by water,” said U Than Htut Aung, a local grower from Htoo Gyi Village.

“With water overwhelming paddy  fields,  we  built  drainage  for the water to flow out, so that the  paddies  suffered  less  dam-age,” he added.

“This  year,  paddy  produc-tion  is  likely  to  decline,  as  now  is the time for paddy yields. Al-though we have built drainages, there  will  still  be  some  mud  in  the  paddy  fields.  There  is  also  no space to store the harvested paddy. The price of paddy is only Ks 500,000 per 100 baskets, so we cannot make profits,” he added.

Paddy plantations can grow a  maximum  of  80  baskets  per  acre in Dala Township. One bas-ket  weighs  46  lbs.—Mg  Yin  Oo  (Dala) (Translated by Hay Mar)