The Mon state government will provide a bushel of paddy seeds per acre for the farmlands that have been affected by the flood in the Mon State.
Over 65,000 acres of monsoon paddy have been inundated in Kyaikhto, Bilin, Thaton, Paung, and Kyaikmaraw townships in the Mon State due to heavy rain in July and around 17,000 acres have been completely damaged, according to statistics from the Mon State Department of Agriculture.
“The state government has given Ks 100 million to the Department of Agriculture and instructed it to buy and collect paddy seeds quickly. There are plans to provide more assistance if it’s needed within the state. [We will provide] a bushel per acre,” said U Tun Htay, Mon State Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Transportation.
He continued that over 11,500 bushels of Thet-hlyin paddy seeds, which are also known as 90 days paddy, have been bought using the budget issued by the state government and the department is trying to distribute them quickly to the farmers.
U Tun Htay said there are enough paddy seeds for the damaged farmlands since the farmers have around 20,000 bushels of paddy seeds within their hands and 2,000 bushels of paddy seeds have been donated by the Department of Agriculture and Myanmar Rice Federation.
“The situation is worse in this year’s flood so many farms have been damaged. The damaged amount is high in our Bilin. We are trying to replant on time. We pray that there won’t be another flood,” said U Kyi Soe, a farm owner from Bilin.
Around 2,000 acres of farmland were damaged by flooding in the state in June.
Over 4,000 acres of farmland have been damaged by the flood in the Mon State last year, according to the State Department of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Information announced that the Karen (Kyain) State’s capital Hpa-an has over 53,434 acres of monsoon paddy and over 42,480 acres have been flooded.
The Karen State government and the State Department of Agriculture will cooperate in assisting the flood-affected farmlands in the Karen State.
Htee-hta-klone Patriotic Karen Youths Parahita Association donated 99 bushels of Hnan-kauk paddy seeds for the flood-affected farmlands in Hpa-an on August 9.
Flooding has inundated around 700,000 acres of farmland in the Mon State, the Karen State, and the Tanintharyi Region last month.
