¡¡¡¡YANGON, February 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China will supply Myanmar with water pumps to help expand its irrigated area.

¡¡¡¡Under an agreement signed here Tuesday by the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation International Engineering Co., Ltd and the Water Resources Utilization Department (WRUD) of the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, China will supply 228 units of centrifugal water pumps for the Myanmar ministry's pump irrigationprojects.

¡¡¡¡The project is one of the important ones of the Myanmar ministry to expand the country's irrigated area, raise paddy production and boost rice export and foreign exchange earning.

¡¡¡¡On completion of the project, it will greatly improve the framework of Myanmar's farm irrigation, expand irrigated area and boost food production.

¡¡¡¡Myanmar is an agricultural country having a cultivable land of 18.225 million hectares, of which 10.125 million have been utilized. Of the cultivated area, 1.92 million or 18.96 percent ofthe total are cultivated through irrigation.

¡¡¡¡Up to now, the country has only 253 river-pumped water stations.Enditem

¡¡¡¡