Myanmar Army troops are forcibly buying thousands of tins (40.9 litres) of paddy rice from local farmers as their own supplies run out at military camps in the upper part of Daw Phone Yang in Bhamo District, Kachin State, according to locals.
Soldiers from the Myanmar Army’s Infantry Battalion 142, based in Daw Phone Yang, are intercepting trucks carrying paddy rice to be sold in Bhamo and forcibly buying it up, a local resident said.
“It’s been over a week. They stop trucks carrying paddy rice to be sold in Bhamo and buy it up. They say they buy it at the Bhamo market price. As the soldiers say this and that, people can no longer refuse. That’s how they buy the paddy rice,” he said.
The Myanmar Army has been intercepting trucks carrying paddy rice for sale in Bhamo on the roads near Fagi and Pangkawnghmu villages for almost a month since late November, he added.
The machine-harvested paddy, bought from local farmers, is being managed by 50 soldiers at the Pangkawnghmu school compound. They bought and stored thousands of tins of paddy rice within a week, said the man from Daw Phone Yang.
“It is true that the junta soldiers are staying in Pangkawnghmu school. Helicopters coming from Myitkyina or Bhamo even land there. They dare not land near their camp. They buy paddy fields and mill it there,” he added.
According to reports, Myanmar Army troops have been staying at Pangkawnghmu school for about six months under the pretext of providing security.
Residents said that after milling the paddy rice in Fargi village, they continue to transport it to LB 142 in Daw Phone Yang.
In addition to buying the paddy transported to Bhamo, the junta soldiers have even reached the paddy fields of more than 10 villages around Pangkawnghmu, including Sarkyun, Maihut, Taingphyar, Longjakaung, Darhsai, Tainlon, Namwine and Fargi to buy paddy.
The Jutna troops buy a tin of paddy grown by local farmers for 8,000 kyat at the current market price in Bhamo and a sack of rice for 90,000 kyat, according to locals.The reason the Myanmar army is buying the farmers’ rice is because there is a shortage of food in the military camps above Daw Phone Yang, said another resident of Daw Phone Yang.
“It looks like they are doing this to supply their camps because they can no longer get the supplies from the lower regions. We can see that the supplies in the camps in upper Daw Phone Yang are running out. That’s why they want to supply these camps. They are very desperate,” he said.
The Myitkyina-Bhamo route has been blocked for six months since clashes between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) around Nam San Yang in July.
In addition, Myanmar Army supply convoys coming by land and water from Mandalay are being blocked and attacked by the KIA, preventing supplies, including rice, from being transported from lower regions.
While such a buyout and stockpiling of local farmers’ paddy rice has never happened before, the current blockades of trucks transporting paddy rice to buy from farms have forced some farmers who do not actually want to sell to sell their crops, according to news sources.
Sent by KNG.