Farmers in western Pekon Township, southern Shan State, are struggling to harvest rice due to the junta’s arbitrary artillery shelling.

The junta and its ally, the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO), had been engaged in fierce clashes with the Karenni resistance coalition in western Pekon Township, but the fighting has eased since late October. Despite the lull, locals reported that the junta has continued to fire artillery arbitrarily.

Locals hope to harvest their rice during the lull in fighting, but they remain fearful of the junta’s shelling and feel unsafe going to their farms.

“The situation is calm right now, but the junta still fires artillery at random and uses drones to drop bomb. Just the other day, a farmer was hit and injured while harvesting in the village. People are scared, but they’re taking the risk and going out to harvest anyway,” a Pekon Township resident said.

Local villagers are taking risks to harvest rice in fields within and around their villages, but they still do not dare to go to farms farther away or near the conflict zone, he added.

Although ground clashes in Pekon Township subsided in the last week of October, junta and PNO troops stationed in Hsawngpyaung and Namnane villages in nearby Pinlaung Township have continued to carry out arbitrary artillery shelling on surrounding villages.

Around 3,000 people displaced by the conflict are currently in Pekon Township, facing a desperate need for food and other assistance.