In Hpruso Township, Karenni State, frequent drone attacks by the military junta troops targeting local residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) during the harvest season are preventing them from harvesting their grown groundnuts.

An IDP explained that although it is harvest time, people do not dare go to their farms, so they have not been able to harvest their crops yet.

“We haven’t been able to harvest anything. Right now, the groundnuts are still only at the early uprooting stage,” the IDP said.

Currently, the junta troops are conducting operations in Hpruso Township, and people are living in fear due to being targeted and attacked by drones in their farmlands.

“This situation is like Burmese proverbs, ‘While eating banyan fruit, stay alert for the whizz of the bow.’ We have to work like we can’t just be brave, acting as if nothing will happen. But we should not be overly fearful. It is important as well,” a farmer said, referring to the need to harvest crops for survival.

Because the junta troops are advancing and targeting civilians with drones and heavy weapons, residents and IDPs are worried and have been forced to abandon the farms and fields they once cultivated. In Hpruso Township, the number of casualties and injuries is among the highest, and farmers say they no longer dare to go to their farms, which makes it impossible to harvest. It is also unclear how many acres of farmland have been left unharvested.

On November 16, in Hpruso Township, a woman harvesting groundnuts was severely injured when a drone bomb dropped by the junta hit her.