Broom making business: Rural people in Mong Yun Township get extra-income

The rural people from Wuntar Kyant and Wan Pawt villages in Mong Yun Township, Tachileik district, eastern Shan State search extra-income by making brooms from the broom grass (Thysanolaena) that naturally grow in evergreen forests of the hilly region.

The current price of 1-kilo of the dry broom grass is 1000 kyats. In the last year, the same kilo of broom grass priced at only 500 kyats. Some farmers make the brooms and sell a piece of finishing broom at 1000 kyats, a local broom maker said.

The broom industry is mostly found in the villages along Mong Phat, Mong Yaung and Mong Yun. Currently, the rural residents start to cut the broom grasses that naturally grow in the forests as they get extra-income from the broom industry and no need the capital.