Pyapon Township () is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Pyapon District Pyapon District () is a district of the Ayeyarwady Division in southwestern Myanmar. It consists of 4 cities. They are Pyapon, Bogalay, Kyaiklat and Dedaye. Townships The district contains the following township A township is a form of hu ...

in the

Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Region ( , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the Rakhine State to the northwest, the Bago Region to ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The principal town and administrative seat of the district is

Pyapon Pyapon (; , ) is a town and seat of Pyapon District as well as Pyapon Township in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar, along the Pyapon River, a distributary of the Ayeyarwady River. It is located about inland from the Andaman Sea, about south of ...

. The southern portion of the township includes Ahmar Subtownship, an unofficial division used by the Township for statistical and administrative ease. Pyapon Township is located in south-central Ayeyarwady Region bordering the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

to its south and west. Its northwestern boundary is concave and borders Bogale Township. To its northeast, it borders Kyaiklat Township and Dedaye Township all within Pyapon District. The township consists of two towns with a total of 23 wards between them as well as 52 village tracts and 212 villages.

Geography

Pyapon Township is located on the furthest shores of the

Irrawaddy Delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar (Burma) that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mout ...

and is dominated by

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

s and farmlands. These forests contain Burmese grape trees, red mangroves, Indian magroves, sea holly mangroves, nipa palms, mangrove date palms and coastal bamboo plants. The township has of protected lands. Inland Pyapon Township sees few settled forests, with non-agricultural lands are grassy areas used for grazing. The Mangrove areas are being degraded due to overexploitation of resources and habitat destruction for agricultural or fish-pond land use. The township has several waterways, including the

Pyapon River Pyapon (; , ) is a town and seat of Pyapon District as well as Pyapon Township in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar, along the Pyapon River, a distributary of the Ayeyarwady River. It is located about inland from the Andaman Sea, about south of t ...

, Gonnyindan River and Bogale River among many smaller freshwater streams. sandbanks impede deep-ocean vessels from entering most waterways within the township. Pyapon Township is a hot and humid region with temperatures ranging, on average, between 18°C and 36°C. Between 2016 and 2019, the average year saw 121 days of rain with an average rainfall of 121.35 inches (308.22 cm) per year.

Demographics

Pyapon Township is relatively rural with 83.2% of the population in 2019 living outside of

and Ahmar. The predominant religion is

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, practiced by 95.5% of the population with the second largest religious group being

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

at 3.8%. The median age in the eastern portion of the town is 26.9 years with a mean household size of 4.4 persons. In the western Ahmar subtownship, the median age is 22.3 years with a mean household size of 4.5 persons.

Economy

The economy of Pyapon Township is experience slow growth and development with the primary industries being

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and fishing. There is abundant navigable waterways and good overland transportation infrastructure. The major roadway connects Pyapon to Dala and Hlaingthaya, Yangon Region. The most common crop by far is

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

with a very small amount of off-season winter crops. The township also sees a labour shortage and rising labour costs due to stresses from out-migration. Low income, lack of healthcare and lack of educational opportunities push rural residents in Ahmar Subtownship towards Pyapon or Hlaingthaya. The lack of off-season crops makes the already low agricultural income seasonal income, prompting many young adults to move to urban areas as they become jobless after the harvesting season. In recent years, the township has been experiencing increased

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

, particularly after

Cyclone Nargis Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis (; , ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall in Myanmar on Friday ...

struck Pyapon and exacerbated coastal flooding. 85% of farms in the township faced salinity problems and decreasing farm yields. Traditional farming adaptations are longer effective, and technology is still limited within the agricultural sector. There is also a dairy industry within the township alongside the raising of various farm animals. The township has over two thousand farm produce processors. The town of Pyapon serves as a center for collecting

from the surrounding agricultural areas, and is home to a diesel-run power plant, using equipment by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

firm

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. The townships many freshwater fisheries, mostly for

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

. The majority of the fish produce is caught freshwater fish. The fish fauna is diverse and abundant within the township's freshwater, brackish and marine ecosystems. The most common fish caught are in the order ''

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

''.

List of Village Tracts

The following are Pyapon Township's 52 village tracts in the township, which group together 295 recognised villages as of 2024.

References

{{Ayeyarwady Region Townships of Ayeyarwady Region