Border News Agency
Ponnakyun, June 11.
Traditional handmade textile weaving businesses of the Mro ethnic people in Arakan have come to a standstill, according to the Mro community.
Traditional textile weavers say they have been forced to halt their weaving work because there are no longer any buyers for their handmade fabrics.
According to the Mro community, their traditional handwoven textile business, which once thrived with strong local support, has now come to a halt. Since the outbreak of the war in Arakan, they have faced growing hardships, and the lack of buyers has forced them to suspend their weaving work.
“There are no buyers now, so we’ve had to stop weaving,” said a Mro man from Banbwe Village in Ponnakyun Township to Border News Agency. “Most people in this area depend on traditional weaving. But right now, no one is buying. There’s no market for it. We had to stop weaving more cloth because we’re worried it’ll pile up unsold.”
In Mrauk-U, where many members of the Mro community rely on traditional handwoven textile businesses, the ongoing conflict has halted the flow of both domestic and international tourists, locals say.
As a result, demand for Mro traditional woven products has plummeted, leaving no buyers and forcing many weaving businesses to shut down temporarily, according to members of the Mro ethnic group.
Additionally, traditional weaving and textile businesses provide important income and employment opportunities for Mro women. Due to the halt in these weaving activities, many families are now facing difficulties in meeting their basic needs, the Mro community says.
“This weaving work helped Mro girls become skilled and provided an income-generating job they could do from home. It gave them financial independence and a way to support themselves. But now that the businesses have stopped, these women face difficulties sustaining themselves and have lost their income. Many have had to return to farming and working the fields,” said a Mro woman weaver to Border News Agency.
The Mro community says that although their traditional woven products were previously exported and sold in Yangon, they can no longer transport them due to road blockades imposed by the Myanmar junta after the conflict escalated.
These traditional Mro woven items include turbans, skirts, headbands, men’s and women’s jackets, shawls, and small bags. The weaving process involves designing patterns on a loom and hand-weaving the fabric.
Although traditional Mro weaving businesses have come to a halt, the Mro community still hand-weaves and uses their own traditional garments such as shawls, men’s and women’s jackets, and headbands for ceremonies and festivals.
The Mro people live in townships including Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Ponnakyun, Kyauktaw, and Mrauk-U. Besides farming as their main livelihood, they also engage in traditional weaving and traditional basket weaving crafts.
