More than 1,600 acres of paddy fields were damaged by strong winds blamed on cyclonic storm Sitrang in Arakan State’s Pauktaw and Manaung townships, according to local farmers.
Due to Cyclone Sitrang, some paddy fields were contaminated with saltwater, while flowering rice plants were also brought down by strong winds, said the farmers.
“Rice plants are now in the flowering stage. So, they can’t produce grains now. And they were also contaminated with saltwater. We have lost three acres of rice plants,” said a local farmer from Nga/Pyu Tet Village in Pauktaw Township.
About 320 acres of paddy fields were also damaged by strong winds in Pauktaw Township’s Sar Pyin and Nga/Khu Chaung villages, according to locals.
“Farms contaminated with saltwater usually go bad totally,” said U Bo Thein Aung from Sar Pyin Village, whose 30 acres of paddy farms were affected by the cyclone. “About the paddy plants that were brought down by strong winds, they still have some chance to survive. Anyway, it is certain that output will decline. We have grown on only some acres of the farmland because of high costs, and we are bound to suffer financial losses.”
Some 1,300 acres of farmlands were also damaged in Pauktaw Township’s Chaung Zauk and Thit Poke Chaung villages, according to the villages’ administrators.
“Saltwater remains in farms. Flowering rice plants will definitely go bad, and will not produce grains because of that,” said a farmer from Thit Poke Chaung Village. “As to rice plants in ripening stages, we will be able to recover some if it rains within a few days. But if not, we will lose all of them.”
Some paddy fields were also damaged in Manaung Township. Affected farmers are likely to suffer financial losses as they have had to spend more on fertiliser and other agricultural inputs this growing season due to price hikes.
U Maung Kyi from Nyaungbinhla Village said: “The harvest will definitely be poor. We haven’t seen strong winds of such magnitude over the past five years in Manaung.”
Multiple townships in Arakan State experienced strong winds and flooding due to the cyclonic storm. Houses were damaged in Sin Tet Maw and Thae Kone villages, as well as at Ngat Chaung camp for internally displaced people (IDPs). Some retaining walls were also reportedly damaged.
