Narinjara News, July 12, 2025

The recent floods in some villages in Arakan (Rakhine) State caused flooding and damage to some paddy farmlands.

Some low-lying paddy fields in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Maungdaw, and Buthidaung townships have been inundated by severe rains since the beginning of July, and the paddy crops have also been damaged.

According to farmers, the flood has wreaked havoc on the rice plants in Rakhine State, where it is currently rice planting season.

The nursery rice seedlings, in particular, which were submerged by the torrential rain, are also susceptible to sunlight after water fell from the farms, according to Kyauktaw farmer U Aung Naing Win.

According to him, the paddy plants are currently only seedlings, and the water and mud that remain in the paddy fields are susceptible to sunburn.

"The newly planted plants were also washed away. It was too late to replant the rice for the long term. The short-term rice is the only one we need to plant. The seedlings range in age from 19 days to a month. My property covers about 15 acres. Around ten acres of the lowlands had been damaged, while the remainder was on the highlands,” U Aung Naing Win stated.

Because of the damage, if farmers replant, it will be too late in the rice planting season, so they will only be able to plant the rice that can be typically harvested in three months.

Long-term Rice is good enough to store for long periods. This kind of rice will be ripe four or five months later.

Due to difficulties with phone lines and internet, U Kyaw Zan, head of the Arakan Farmers' Union, informed Narinjara that he was unable to provide specifics about the flood devastation.

"Because communication is so challenging, it's hard to provide specifics. When the floods came, the rice planting season was still in the initial stage. As a result, even if the floods occur, the likelihood of significant losses is thought to be minimal,” he said.

Farmers also need paddy seeds to cover the areas of land that have been damaged by the floods.

On the other hand, the Arakan Army (AA) has been providing paddy seeds to farmers in need of paddy seeds in the Rakhine State since July 3, but this time there is no information to provide paddy seeds again.

Due to low paddy prices last year, Arakanese farmers are experiencing losses. The farmers have hence decreased the size of their paddy cultivation fields this year as a result of increasing input costs and lack of profit from their agriculture business.

Tens of thousands of acres of rice fields were damaged by floods brought by torrential rains in several Rakhine State communities throughout July and August 2024.