The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation yesterday morning organized a virtual meeting on production processes of monsoon paddy for this year via videoconferencing. Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr Aung Thu; Union Minister for Commerce Dr Than Myint; Deputy Ministers, the Permanent Secretaries, the Directors-General and officials of the two ministries; Myanmar Rice Federation Chairperson and other officials of the federation; and officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Mechanization Department participated in the virtual meeting held via Zoom Application. Union Minister Dr Aung Thu talked about the need to eliminate needless costs in the production processes of monsoon paddy during harvest this year. He said that his ministry will make necessary negotiations and arrangements in advance to cope with various relevant difficulties, which can be caused by travel restrictions related to COVID-19 pandemic.
During the meeting, the participants discussed growing monsoon paddy rice this year, possible paddy yields, situations related to the need of paddy field workers and skilled workers, difficulties sparked by travel restrictions, and necessary preparations and arrangements to overcome the difficulties. This year’s monsoon, it was planned to grow a total of 15.1 million acres of monsoon paddy, and out of them, 14.7 million acres were grown by the end of September. Areas in lower Myanmar have already begun harvesting for monsoon paddy. More than 30,000 acres in Bago Region, about 1,000 acres in Yangon Region and more than 20,000 acres in Ayeyawady Region have been harvested by late September.
By the end of October, an estimated 350,000 acres will be harvested. Because of changes in farming techniques and systems, paddy farmers need to harvest their crops in the same period, so many paddy-harvesting machines, transportation of them and skilled workers will be needed in the period. The meeting is also intended to make necessary discussions to respond to those challenges and to overcome the possible impacts on paddy prices, which can pose difficulties for farmers.—MNA
(Translated by Maung Maung Swe)
