Increasing vegetable production in Myanmar

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=36141

availability of vegetables in Myanmar is less than 50 percent the recommended daily dietary intake of vegetables (300 g/day). An FAO assisted project provides the platform to highlight this key issue and initiating remedial action at national level.

With US$2.9 million funding provided by the European Commission, an FAO project in Myanmar plans to support most needy people in the Northern Rakhine State through food, nutrient and livelihood security and natural resource management.

"The development of new technologies and their integration into farmers’ social systems are of paramount importance in predominant agricultural economies such as Myanmar", said Imai Shin, the FAO representative in the country.

The project is providing modern scientific technologies for vegetable production, seeds and improved cultivars, and building stronger extension networks for the effective dissemination of relevant technologies.

Last year, the project distributed 15 MT of potato tuber seeds and 245 kg of vegetable seeds to farmers. Farmers were also given 12.5 MT of bio-compost (organic manure) for vegetable production. Farm yard manure, compost, green manure and other steps relate to increase the organic carbon content in the soil.

500 litres of bio-pesticide (Neem) and 15 knap sack sprayers were handed out for pest and disease management in vegetable crops, although Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the preferred plant protection technology. Chemical insecticides and fungicides were procured strictly for judicious use by the farmers, under the guidance of project scientists.



A workshop on vegetables for sustainable food and nutritional security was held at the Seed Division Compound in Yangon on 22 and 23 December 2008. Fifty participants attended, drawn from concerned departments of the Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS), international non-governmental organizations and private seed companies, the World Food Programme and FAO.

The workshop drew up an action plan for upgrading technical knowledge and skills for fresh vegetable production and promoting local seed production; understanding the important role of and processes in vegetable-based small scale enterprise development; emphasizing people’s participation to improve rural livelihoods; and improving stakeholders’ skills in forming a functioning group, with effective communication and technology use.

Bir Mandal, FAO’s chief technical advisor of the project Support for sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods in Northern Rakhine State, noted that other parameters are important too, such as the provision of sufficient irrigation water, the development and utilization of modern vegetable seed varieties as well as selective small farm mechanization.

The project, which runs from November 2007 until the end of 2010, aims to empower farmers, landless poor and women headed household to produce more food; generate income through crops (rice, pulses, rape-seed mustard, groundnut and vegetable crops), livestock (poultry, duck and goat), oil mills and fruit tree nurseries; reduce ecological imbalance through the use of biogas plants; and develop and strengthen local capacities and institutions to ensure sustainability.

Vegetables are rich sources of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals. An estimated two billion people in the world suffer from the lack of vitamins and essential minerals; most of them are women or children, particularly in the developing world, resulting in ill health, lack adequate physical and mental development and liable to various diseases including blindness.

Source: agrifeeds.org


Publication date: 1/8/2009