Manual labourers facing livelihood challenges in Rakhine

Narinjara News, 4 May 2023

The manual labourers in Rakhine State have been facing challenges to sustain their livelihood due to the rising essential commodity prices and also scarcity of job opportunities.

The price of rice and other  commodities have been increasing in the State making it difficult for the common people to cover their daily expenses.

Daw Sandar, a manual labourer from Shwe Pyi Thar village under Sittwe township, said that the price rise has made their livelihood very difficult.

“Our daily income just cannot cover the daily expenditures. The price of essential commodities is growing every day,” he added.

U Mg Mg, who works as a stevedore at Sittwe port, also echoed similar views that they were facing difficulties because of the livelihood crisis.

"The type of works has changed now. The scorching sun has shortened the time period of our work. In earlier days, I could earn Kyats ten thousand for a day's work, but now I can hardly earn Kyats five thousand due to various factors. Now we have to borrow money from others to look after our families,” he added.

A Sittwe based manual labourer admitted that he can no longer buy the sufficient volume of rice for his family and hence started reducing the number of rice bags.

"In the past, I used to buy rice bags according to our needs, but now I can only afford to collect a small portion of rice grains. Prior to Thingyan, I paid around Kyats 1,700 per one pyi of rice," he added.

Currently, the price has gone up to Kyats 2200 per one pyi of rice.

A bag of Paw San Hmwe rice was sold at Kyats 70,000 before the festival and now it has increased to nearly Kyats 80,000.

In the Sittwe rice market, the price of Paw San Hmwe rice is around Kyats 85,000 per bag. Kauk Gyi rice is sold at Kyats 75,000 per bag as well as Ae-Ma-Hta (locally known as Shw Wah Tun) at 58,000 and Nga Sein at 53,000.

The cost of other food items like onions (Kyats 3,700 per viss), edible oil (Kyats 12,500 per viss), dried chilies (Kyats 18,500 per viss) is also increasing.

With the increasing price of essential items, the manual labourers, who earn a daily wage of Kyats 10,000, now find it difficult to spend Kyats 15,000 to 20,000 per day for various family affairs.