The scheme was launched in 2011 to stabilise the price of rice. The government would buy rice from farmers at harvest time with the aim of selling the staple food for a profit if prices subsequently rose.
Now the president of the Independent Farmers Association, U Thein Aung, said traders and rice companies were profiting from the stock at the expense of hard-working farmers who see little more than substandard rates for their yield.
“The basic idea is good, but it should be managed by farmers. At present, it’s all in the hands of traders, while farmers bear the risks. The management committee should fix a reasonable price in the interests of all concerned,” he said.
Rice is bought for the stock at harvest time, when the farmers are in debt and have little or no choice as to the price. But later in the season, once prices are high, sales are handled by the traders, who take the profit, said U Thein Aung.
“They buy at the lowest rice price, at harvest time, when farmers need money to repay their loans. But the farmers don’t share in the profits,” he said.
U Tin Lin Aung, secretary general of the Farmer Union, said that farmers are currently only able to make about US$100 cultivating one acre of rice paddy, a process that takes five months.
“[It] is impossible for farmers to make a living. We think the buffer stock does little more than level farmers’ balance if the rice price decreases too much,” he said, adding that government programs in other regional countries pay more than twice what they do in Myanmar for similar programs.
Myanmar Rice Federation officials disputed these remarks, saying the buffer scheme worked in the country’s interests by stabilising rice prices.
“It meets the country’s needs. Other ASEAN countries also store buffer stock, but we store much less than they do, and the results are less effective. Thailand stores 12 million tonnes for buffer stock, but we can only store 50,000 tonnes,” said U Soe Tun, joint secretary general of the Myanmar Rice Federation.
Last year, the stock of about 50,000 tonnes was sold starting from September, during a price surge, said U Nay Lin Zin, a CEC member of the Myanmar Rice Federation.
“Last August and September the rice price rose to the highest level in 50 years. We sold the buffer stock and the price fell. When flooding occurred in Myawaddy, the government used the buffer stock to help the devastated area,” he said.
MRF statistics shows that more than 2045 tonnes of buffer stock were sold last September at about US$15 a sack (48 kilograms or 108 pounds). Tenders are now being prepared for next year’s buffer stock.
source: The Myanmar Times
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