9 February

AS the time for growing rice in Myanmar  approaches,  Kyaw  Thet Naing, a farmer who lives on the outskirts of the nation’s capital Nay Pyi Taw, already has high hope for his harvest.

His  confidence  has  grown  from experiencing years of rich and  quality  yields  on  his  five  acres of rice, where he has kept planting  paddy  seed  varieties  from  China  and  practiced  re-lated farming techniques since 2017.

“With  our  traditional  ways  of cultivation, we would normally produce about 60 baskets (1,260 kg) per acre. With China’s assis-tance, we have added nearly 50 baskets per acre,” he said.

In the past year, rice seeds and  related  techniques  from  China  have  become  widely  accepted among nearby farmers, he added.

BUILDING PLATFORMS

In 2017, the Guangxi Acad-emy  of  Agricultural  Sciences  (GAAS)  in  Nanning,  capital  of  southwest  China’s  Guangxi  Zhuang  Autonomous  Region,  worked  with  agricultural  au-thorities  in  Myanmar  as  well  as companies from both sides to build several research platforms in Nay Pyi Taw.

The platforms, which aim to introduce,  select,  demonstrate  and publicize high-quality crop varieties  from  both  countries,  launched research projects tar-geting  new  ways  to  plant  and  grow crops more efficiently and with  greener  methods  in  pest  and  disease  prevention  and  control.

Yang Mingtong, chairman of the Guangxi Haokay Biotechnol-ogy Co. Ltd., one of the contribu-tors to the platform, said that the company  has  been  conducting  tests  and  plant  trials  for  about  102  Chinese  crop  varieties,  in-cluding rice, corn, cucurbit and vegetables, in Myanmar to see if  they  are  suited  to  the  local  climate and soil conditions.

“For now, two rice varieties and two corn varieties we devel-oped  have  received  plantation  permits in Myanmar,” said Yang, adding that the high-yield hybrid rice from China helps improve the taste of Myanmar rice, allow-ing it to be sold at higher prices.

Ruan Shiyun, a farmer from a village near Nanning, planted two new varieties last year. “The yield increased substantially to around  3,000  kg  per  acre,  ver-sus 2,100 to 2,400 kg per acre in previous  years,  with  improved  disease-and-lodging resistance,” he said.

The new varieties were hybridized  from  rice  introduced  from  Myanmar  and  local  ones  in  the  China-ASEAN  crop  experimental station in Nanning.

Introducing Myanmar crops to China or vise versa benefits farmers  from  both  sides,  said  Yang, noting that his company, among  others,  has  tested  39  crop  varieties  from  Myanmar  for planting in Guangxi.

PROMOTING EXCHANGES

Meanwhile,  bilateral  exchanges and cooperation among scientists and technical person-nel have laid a solid foundation for  long-term  cooperation  be-tween the two countries.

Earlier  in  January,  Myanmar  researcher  Cho  Cho  San  concluded  her  one-year  exchange  as  a  beneficiary  of  the  ASEAN  Talented  Young  Scientists  (Guangxi)  Program  in GAAS and went back to Myanmar.

“Apart from lab experience, I was able to learn from established findings in molecular bi-otechnology and bioinformatics, some of which have not yet been done in Myanmar,” she said.
She  now  serves  as  a  plant  pathologist for the Department of  Agricultural  Research  in  Myanmar  Ministry  of  Agricul-ture,  Livestock  and  Irrigation  (MOALI).

“I  will  share  with  my  col-leagues  some  of  the  technical  experience and knowledge that I  got  from  Guangxi  through  practical  training,  seminars  and presentations in conference meetings,” she said, adding that the  most  meaningful  aspect  of  her career is that the team’s col-lective work could help farmers.

INCREASING BENEFITS

For the past two years, hundreds of Myanmar students and scientists gained opportunities to  study  and  conduct  research  in China under programs sponsored  by  the  Chinese  govern-ment and companies.

Guangxi, the only region in China that boasts water and land gateways to ASEAN countries, attracted nine young scientists from Myanmar to advance their research.  Most  of  them  study  bioscience,  a  field  closely  related to agriculture.

Soe Thet Naung, the Myan-mar Consulate General to Nan-ning, said that Guangxi’s climate is similar to that of the Shan and Kachin  states  of  Myanmar,  an  aspect  that  could  help  fructify  and  deepen  bilateral  exchanges in agricultural research. He highly valued the bilateral cooperation in agricultural research between China and Myanmar.

Ye Tin Tun, director general of the Department of Agriculture under  MOALI,  said  that  China  is  advanced  in  technology,  and  Myanmar  farmers  need  qual-ity  seeds  and  an  increase  in  agricultural  productivity.  With  China’s  technical  assistance,  these  farmers  are  expected  to  see more benefits.—Xinhua