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Rice farming in Burma has become a precarious enterprise, as stepped-up government intervention is stifling profits while stressing the land and the lives of the farmers. There are few ways to express displeasure with the government in Burma, but farmers have been voicing their discontent with their feet. And gauging by the steady flow of rice farmers fleeing Burma for neighboring Thailand, Bangladesh and India, farmers are fed up with working conditions under authoritarian rule. "Less and less people want to farm," says a veteran Shan political analyst. "Even if you grow vegetables they will not end up in your kitchen, but in the military’s kitchen." In Burma, prices of commodities, particularly rice, have skyrocketed over the last 12 months, leaving individuals in both urban and rural areas able to afford only one meal a day. This inflation has further fueled existing hunger woes. Farmers, human rights workers, and diplomats say the government’s incoherent policy making—such as the government’s drive to boost exports and increase the quota system requiring farmers to sell rice at a subsidized rate—as well as the lack of infrastructure, has created an army of disenfranchised rice farmers and scores of hungry citizens. Rice scientists say they could drastically increase yields in Burma by simply introducing new varieties, a technique that has eluded Burma due to its protracted isolation. They say this would help alleviate hunger problems while also allowing for increased exports. Burma once led the world in rice exports—particularly before World War II, with the last time coming in 1956-1957—but rice historians note Burma has never been able to harness technological advancements but instead relies on expanding land production as opposed to increasing yields. Nonetheless, analysts have noted the irony that a country once dubbed the "Rice Bowl of Asia" should now be suffering from food shortages. "Traditionally, I don’t think that in general food production was a problem," says Dr Paul Marcotte, former head of training and education at the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and who has nearly 40 years work experience in Southeast Asia, including Burma. "There might have been pockets of hunger that would have been seasonal." One international non-governmental organization working in Burma has said their initial findings from health observations concerning malnourishment among children has produced striking results. From a test that measures children’s weight in regards to their age, the organization found "many cases of stunting, mild malnutrition", which they described as a chronic condition throughout the country. While the group did not know if countrywide price hikes for rice had led to an increase in hunger, one worker said: "But there is a chronic problem. And even our information seems to confirm that at least half of the children, or at least 40 percent of the children, have a problem of mild malnutrition." Numerous reports have been released linking August floods and late November rains with the current rice shortage in Burma. The deluges put a damper on government predictions for this year’s monsoon rice crop, which is planted in mid-June and harvested in October and November, and which usually accounts for over 80 percent of the country’s rice production. But insiders say this alone is not responsible for the 100 percent jump in rice prices since last year. The problem has become so severe that rice warehouses in Arakan and Mon States have been raided by angry mobs searching for provisions. Managers of rice storage facilities have been blamed for selling rice through the backdoor once prices went up, with the thought of replenishing stocks once inflation subsided, but that has not yet happened. Others blame the government’s attempt to export rice before first satisfying consumer demand at home. Maung Sein Pru, editor of the Bangladesh-based Narinjara News Service, describes the rice crisis in Burma as "artificial", saying the government is more interested in bumping up exports than feeding the populace. "Crop failure is one thing, and another is that the government is bent on exporting rice to an amount that is not practical. These have caused it [rice shortage] to get worse and worse." Diplomats agree that Burma is not facing a supply problem, but that the country’s antiquated infrastructure is unable to accommodate the timely delivery of rice. Government moves to keep rice out of border areas in fear that illegal trade would flourish as well as its decision to keep urban centers stocked to avoid public dissent are also to blame. They say these variables have caused rice to be hit even harder than other commodities in the country. "You can’t absolve the government. Some of their policies are also to blame," says one Rangoon-based diplomat. "So that has an impact on price.