The prices of agricultural inputs (fertilizer and fuel oil prices) are edging up this year, pushing up the production cost. However, mixed cropping will cover the cultivation cost as the prices of crops in mixed cropping are significantly rising. The growers will prosper, the traders said.
The price of fertilizer climbed up to K100,000 per bag. Therefore, growers substitute natural fertilizer for it, reducing the agrochemical use significantly. The harvest season of monsoon paddy commences in various regions in recent days.
As the price for the paddy was extremely low after 2010, the government’s leading committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Interests of Farmers set the floor price for paddy at K320,000 per 100 baskets (one basket is equivalent to 46 pounds) in the years of 2012 and 2013. There was a narrow gap between the reference price and the market price.
A basket of paddy was measured at 50 pounds in the market. If there is higher moisture content, it was measured at 52-55 pounds.
The market prices for paddy hit K500,000-600,000 per 100 baskets in the harvest of monsoon paddy in 2021. In September 2022, the monsoon paddy was transacted at K1 to 1.3 million per 100 baskets (a basket equals 50 pounds) depending on the moisture content.
This year, weather impacts on agriculture are extremely less than that of the previous years. The market observers are still speculating on the yield rate, but there is no official confirmation released yet.
The soaring agricultural inputs drove the production cost of potatoes from K2.5 million to K7 million per acre. Likewise, the costs of summer paddy, chilli pepper and black gram cultivation have risen.
Nonetheless, those crops fetched higher prices in the markets. Therefore, the growers who will be involved in mixed cropping will reap a great profit, Ko San Lwin, a market observer, told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).—TWA/GNLM
Mixed cropping likely to prosper this year amid high agricultural input costs
- September 18, 2022
- 423