YANGON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is planning an agricultural development strategy on the basis of the second five-year national development plan, official media reported Monday.
With the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), the strategy, once drawn up, will be released through workshops in the next two months to seek public opinions.
The agricultural development strategy highlights cooperation between private and public sectors as well as farmers to boost production and attain market shares in the highly competitive international market, the report said.
The master plan is also aimed at producing pedigree crops, provide quality fertilizer, practice Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), increase awareness of pesticide use to farmers, provide access to loans, produce quality food and penetrate additional international markets, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
Meanwhile, the Yangon region government is also drafting a master plan for development of agricultural mechanization to be implemented within three years, disclosing that it has earmarked about 8 billion kyats (6.15 million U.S. dollars) to spend on the development of agricultural mechanization in the region as part of revitalization efforts for farmland.
The regional authorities called for efforts to upgrade the agricultural sector with the use of modern ways to boost agricultural production and value-added products for export.
Under the plan, irrigation will also be extended in the 2017-18 fiscal year which began in April.
