Sesame farmers hit hard by drought

Tuesday, 10 August 2010 11:50 Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Severe drought is causing havoc among sesame producers in central Burma, with farmers reeling from damaged crops and a corresponding shortage of seeds for next season.

Most sesame fields in a major sesame-producing region of Burma covering 13 townships have been affected by the drought, according to local farmers.

Up to 90 percent of fields in Mandalay and Magwe Divisions failed to receive adequate water from this year’s monsoon, leaving farmers desperate to salvage crops and prepare for the next harvest.

“We got the first monsoon rain only in May of this year after a long drought period that started in July 2009. But this first monsoon rain was not adequate for cultivation, so we lost our seeds. Only one out of ten farmers got their seeds back from their sesame cultivation,” a farmer from Mauk Lauk village, Meiktila Township in Mandalay Division told Mizzima.

Among the over 10,000 acres of sesame cultivation in Meiktila Township, sesame fields in 27 villages are severely damaged.

“A farmer who used to get 300 baskets of sesame got only 30 baskets this year. The remaining cultivation has been damaged,” a farmer from Yenan Chaung Township in Magwe Division said.

Pho La Min, a resident of Taung Dwin Gyi Township and a cheroot producing establishment owner remarked, “There are many people who lost their sesame cultivation. Some of them lost everything. The entire cultivation in Koran village to the west of town was damaged. Now they are growing corn in these damaged fields.”

There are two seasons of sesame cultivation in Burma, the monsoon and irrigated seasons. The regions on the bank of Irrawaddy River usually grow the irrigated sesame in February and harvest in May, while the monsoon sesame is usually grown in the third week of May and harvested in the first week of August.

The production cost for each acre of sesame is about 100,000 kyats (US$100) including seeds, cultivation, fertilizer and weeding. As a result, heavily indebted farmers who lost their crops this season could lose their farmlands, houses and cattle in attempting to repay loans taken for sesame cultivation, expanded organic fertilizer dealer Than Aung from Yenan Chaung Township.

“Most of the farmers took loans for their sesame cultivation, so they will be heavily indebted as a result of their crops being lost. They will have to surrender their farmlands, fields and houses to the money lenders,” he said.

The lack of itinerant work available in the sesame fields is also prompting some parents to send their daughters to Malaysia in search of work, according to villagers. The women are usually able to supplement family income by weeding in the fields.

Despite low sesame production, demand and price have not increased on the Mandalay market, causing sesame traders further hardship.

“The sesame price will not rise despite the drought and low yield. There is no increased demand for this crop,” a local sesame trader from Mandalay told Mizzima.

Current price quotations for sesame in Mandalay are 70,000 kyats per basket for brown sesame and 84,000 kyats per basket for white sesame.