00:03Farmers are busy at work in the paddy fields of Myanmar as clouds heavy with
00:07rain announced the start of planting season.
00:12But there's anxiety hanging in the air, a fear many farmers will soon be wiped out by
00:17financial ruin.
00:20Getting these fields to produce requires fertilizer, getting farm equipment to run requires fuel,
00:26and a war in the distant Middle East has cut off a key shipping route for both.
00:31For a country that imports 90% of its fuel oil and up to 95% of its chemical fertilizer,
00:37this could soon mean a collapse as supplies dwindle and prices soar.
00:43As a family, we are losing what we have.
00:46If we need some money to grow rice, we go to a pawn shop or sell our belongings.
00:50So our belongings are gradually depleting.
00:52I really feel a lack of motivation.
00:57Even those who own their own land, as opposed to renting, are doubtful about the future.
01:03If this situation continues, we farmers are not sure we can grow rice.
01:07I'm no longer motivated to do it.
01:10I am doing it just because I own fields.
01:12I am sick of it.
01:15It's a fresh blow to an agricultural sector that was once a global rice powerhouse.
01:20Civil war has already hurt production, and now with farmers cutting back on fertilizer,
01:25production is set to dip further, possibly by 15% in one scenario put forward by the UN's
01:31World Food Programme.
01:34Topped off by drought and heat waves due to a strong El Nino predicted for this year,
01:39it could mean a perfect storm of factors hurting food security in a country where that can already
01:44be precarious.
01:47Yet, the work goes on.
01:49People in this community identify strongly with farming for a living,
01:53and there are those who hope the farmers can hold on, despite the temptation to pack
01:58up and find some other job.
02:02We do not want future generations to read a history full of doubts,
02:06wondering if these farmers truly existed or if these events really happened,
02:11if our farmers disappear and are reduced laborers.
02:17The stress test that will determine if that happens is here, now.
02:22Dolphine Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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