Some porters have escaped to Thailand and tell of seeing other porters beaten, tortured, and blown up by land mines. Often tied up and guarded at night, the are never paid, and are given little food. If they become too weak to carry their loads or cannot keep up with the troop they are beaten or killed. Villagers often killed in reprisal for military skirmishes with Burmese. In addition to forced labor rice farmers in Karenni State, like farmers elsewhere in Burma, are required to sell a portion of their rice to the SPDC at a fixed price.
Officials sometimes take the rice without paying.
Not selling rice to the military is not an option. Those who refuse, or can't, face arrest. Recently, because the government has failed to garner enough rice for their troops, the SPDC have forced Karenni farmers to grow rice during the dry summer season when they traditionally take a break from farming. The cost of irrigating makes farming prohibitive. The farmers must pay for the water used to irrigate the fields, rent for the buffalo to plow the land, and sell all of the rice harvested to the military for a ridiculously low price.