To promote the agricultural sector, the Union Government has placed special emphasis on the balanced development of agriculture, livestock, and industry to ensure inclusive economic growth, food security, and increased exports.

About 70 per cent of the country’s population is residing in rural areas and their main occupation is farming. Although about 30 per cent of the GDP comes from the agricultural sector, the socio-economic life of the farmers is still poor.

While marching towards the goal of development, the Union Government has enacted a law to protect the rights of farmers and promote their interests.

During his speech on the Myanmar traditional New Year in April last year, the President had pledged to deliver land ownership certificates to farmers within a year, give loans to farmers in a timely manner, and grant tax exemption to agricultural inputs.

Having taken the current situation in the agricultural sector and its challenges into consideration, the Union Government is making strenuous efforts to return confiscated farmland to rightful owners.
The committees on scrutinizing farmland and other land in regions and states are also working to resolve the issue, and so far, more than 425,400 acres of land has been released as of 2018, of which 406,719 acres has been returned to farmers.

We need to make combined efforts to promote agriculture, without focusing on paddy alone.
Rigorous implementation of farmers’ rights and interests was as an urgent need to ensure the country’s economic development.

In addition, the Union Government has laid down 11 goals to ensure food security, nutritional value of food and increased food safety, allow farmers to enjoy full rights and better benefits, and encourage domestic and foreign investment in the agricultural sector.

Another challenge for our framers are climate-change induced disasters, which cause losses every year. We would like to urge all concerned to find a system which can provide a sustainable solution to prevent losses caused by disasters, instead of providing aid annually to farmers in their aftermath.

We would like to urge the people and the authorities to work in unity to overcome the challenges and obstacles faced by our farmers.

On the auspicious Peasants’ Day which falls on 2nd March, let us make a solemn pledge to work with combined strength for improving the socio-economic conditions of the people, including farmers.