CNI News
10 August, 2022
For agricultural activities, it is required to provide inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides and agricultural materials for farmers, said SAC Chairman General Min Aung Hlaing in today (August 8th) meeting where SAC Committee members, the Union Minister, Chief Ministers of regional and state governments as well as the presidents of autonomous regions and autonomous provinces attended.
The SAC president said, “It is necessary to take serious action to make rice cultivation and production activities correct and regular and the government must also take mandatory measures to obtain pesticides and agricultural water for agricultural inputs.
Then, we need to put effective use in a water storage system for getting enough water in the summer and systematically using the underground water. If successful, the agricultural activities will open up to employment opportunities and income earnings.
Moreover, he also said that the consumption and demand will rise, thereby improving the socio-economic life, and that it is important for the state chief ministers to take serious actions to bring a development to agriculture and livestock based on rural areas.
U Kyaw Zan, the Chairman of the Rakhine State Farmers’ Union said, “In order to overcome this cumbersome problem, the role of the government is at the crux here. All the mere efforts that we are doing have run its course now.”
So, at the time, I really think that the government should be systematically analyzing the farmer’s conditions and making plans to give support to them. The main problem is that we have to do things in time and we don’t have water now, so we have to be given equipment to bring water.
while Rakhine farmers are doing farming
And we have no dam water now. However, we are making arrangements to connect the whole length of river water. The cost can be high, of course, since there is no dam,” he told CNI on July 23, 2022.
The SAC chairman said that the country is pushing for improvement in the agricultural sector since agricultural products are its main export, thereby he wants the regions and state prime ministers and chairmen of autonomous regions to take this issue seriously.
Farmers said that currently, high input costs in Myanmar, rising fuel prices and agricultural water insufficiency are leading to the decline of cultivation acres as well as the decline in the yield of rice.
Similarly, there are reportedly frequent armed conflicts in Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Karen State, Chin State and Kayah State leading to the increasing difficulty in doing agricultural activities.
Also in Rakhine state, due to the lack of irrigation water, the cultivation of rainfed rice is decreasing. Due to this decrease in rice yield, there have been purchases of rice consumables from the Irrawaddy region.
Ko Maung Win from Rakhine State Min Pya Township said to CNI on July 23, 2022, “It still does not rain. The mud in the plowed fields have already hardened again. There are a lot of difficulties and I don’t even know if there will be rice next year. It is supposed to rain a lot now but the rain has been so little. The fields that were plowed relying on the rain are now dry again.”
The SAC Chairman Major General Min Aung Hlaing responded to support agriculture and businesses with 400 billion for economic recovery and to take action to revive Myanmar’s economy within 6 months.
