24 April
By Thura Zaw / Photos Kyaw Zeya, Aye Than
The village is surrounded by water and there is a bamboo bridge connecting it to Asun Village to the east. There are green fields in the south, a serene pagoda to the west. The village rests along the banks of the Yoe stream.
The peaceful village is located at the southern tip of Danuphyu Township in Ayeyawady Region and mainly does fishery. It is called Byinbwae Village and the writer Kyel Ni and based his book ‘Ko Than Ngar’, contributed to the couple Ko Daung Sein and Mae Sein, on the villagers’ lives in poverty, their struggle, how merchant brokers and ruffians bully and extort them, and most importantly their expertise and terminology regarding fisheries.
Development funds
However, the village is now equipped with a 200×24 feet steel reinforced concrete bridge, a solar powered electric supply system, an earthen pond, 9 hand pumps for drinking water, the Asun-Hnekaw dyke, concrete roads, a brick reservoir with water purification system, a damayone (Buddhist religious building) and a library, all constructed from the rural region development fund.
With the vision to drive development in rural regions like this village, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw enacted the Rural Region Development Law with Law No. 39/2019 on 27 December 2019.
Rural Development Department
One of 14 entities under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, the Department of Rural Development accomplished supplying a source of drinking water in 1,803 villages, benefiting 1.833 million people of 359,000 households.
Using the ODA loan from the Japanese government, the department is expanding water distribution systems in 22 townships and has completed 100 per cent of the project in Sittway and Myitkyina, 50 per cent in Meiktila and Pathein, and is negotiating contracts in the remaining townships.
The department installed off-grid solar panel kits in 115,583 houses and 17,911 public buildings of 2,801 villages, benefiting 920,000 people. In addition, the department implemented small-scale power supply systems through 39 processes in 41 villages, benefiting 0.039 million people of 10,296 households.
Similarly, the department has constructed 266.6 miles of rural roads and 220 bridges, benefiting 176,829 plantation acres and 0.37 million. In the rural housing construction aspect, the department has built 200 houses in Chin State and 327 houses in Rakhine State, thus creating housing for 527 households that were left homeless after natural disasters.
Circulating funds
The community-based project encompassed 54 townships and implemented 9,084 infrastructure development processes in 8,070 villages while the Mya Sein Yaung Project expanded 800 project-supportive units in 944 villages and kept 9,057 project units in 11,098 villages and funds circulating during the 5-year project period.
The Enhancing Rural Livelihoods and Incomes Project was implemented in 3 townships and affected 291 villages where it benefited 177,300 rural residents. In addition, 19,958 trainees from the rural development department’s vocational training schools applied what they had learned in the factories, workshops, companies and self-owned businesses afterwards.
Agriculture Department
Seventy per cent of Myanmar’s population live in rural areas and their main business is agriculture. The agricultural sector contributes 22.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP. The agricultural sector developed at a rate of 2.1 per cent in 2018-2019 financial year and the agricultural ministry is working to increase the development rate to 2.5 per cent in 2019-2020 financial year.
The ministry has 77 ongoing projects and 13 new ones to implement in 2019-2020 financial year using K430,67 million from the Union budget and has 68 ongoing projects funded by foreign grants, 39 in negotiation and 33 in the proposal stage while another 8 ongoing projects are funded by loans with 1 other under negotiation and 1 in the proposal stage.
The ministry is also implementing the Multi-sectoral National Plan of Action for Nutrition (MS-NPAN) led by the State Counsellor with drafted policies to tackle Myanmar’s malnutrition issues.
In addition, the National Biosafety Framework and Policy with assistance from UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) and held a workshop to revise the fourth draft of the National Biosafety Framework and Policy, a workshop to assess danger risk to research development, and a workshop for the finalized draft.
The ministry opened a branch school for agricultural science (Shwebo) in Homalin, Sagaing Region, to further perpetuate education on agriculture and began the first year course. In addition, the ministry is working hard to ensure the success of investment in the agriculture sector in line with the Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) Framework, said Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr Aung Thu.
The Agriculture Department has uploaded draft rules and regulations concerning the pesticide law on its website, said the director-general of the agriculture department Dr Ye Tint Tun, and the regulations aim to ensure efficient trade of commodities to ensure food and health safety of people, animals and plants around the world.
In addition, the GAP certificate of acknowledgment can be applied through an online application system and partnered with GIZ to provide a digitilization system training. They discussed with Myanmar GAP technical groups to draft standards for acquiring international acknowledgment. The third draft was prepared and a workshop to swiftly implement the National Biosafety Framework and Policy was also organized.
Seed testing laboratories were also opened in Pathein, Pyay and Hlegu to test for soil nutritional composition, water samples and plant samples.
Good breeds
The Agriculture Department is also working hard for acquiring good plant breeds for cultivators as it is an important requirement. Thus, the Seed Fair was held from 28 to 30 January 2020 and seeds of good breeds were sold and purchased.
The department allotted 2,934 model acres in 10 states/regions to educate cultivators in regard to proliferating seeds of good breeds of lentils and other crops Myanmar exports the most. They also collaborated with the Seed Grower Association, Seed Bank, cultivators, private sector and companies and planted 2,594 acres. Educational role model fields were also planted in Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay Region and Shan State.
The department also is also developing Myanmar’s sugarcane sector to maneuver sugar production and market balance and to find sustainable solutions to Myanmar’s sugarcane sugar production industry by organizing seminars.
Land management and central statistics
Cultivators need a Form-7 to register their fields as their authentic possessions. The Department of Agricultural Land Management and Statistics is assisting cultivators in this regard. The department issued Form-7 for 25,431,190 acres and 9,913,742 acres of landholding, as of 15 January 2020.
The Livestock Breeding & Veterinary Department is working on 33 processes to ensure food security of crops, fish and meat and to export by raising the quality of finished products. They issued regulations for preventing communicable diseases, breeding and slaughtering of cattle.
A veterinary disease containment and surveillance centre was opened in Kutkai Township and the department opened a passenger office and cargo office near BCF zone near Myanmar-Thailand Friendship Bridge (2) to inspect import/export processes.
A workshop to review the action plan to combat antibiotic resistance was organized and policies and rules to limit feeding growth promoters in animal feed to reduce antibiotic resistance was discussed at the 1st Stakeholders Meeting.
The Livestock Breeding & Veterinary Department collaborated with OIE for National Action Plan for Rabies Elimination in Dog to realize the global aim of eliminate rabies around the world by 2030. Between June 2019 to January 2020, 150,000 rabies vaccination shots have been administered. They also organized strategies to prevent the spread of African Swine Flu.
The also tested a pilot model of numbering pig farms in Yangon Region and Mon State, issuing certificates of good farming practices, and negotiating with ASEAN-level for accreditation.
The ministry implemented the GAqP to meet EU guidelines in order to export fishery products to the EU and international market. They also organized informative sessions on the health benefits of consuming safe fishery products by sharing knowledge on GAqP.
The Union Minister said Myanmar is currently exporting fishery products to 40 countries and increased export value to USD 641.089 million. The Department of Fisheries and Denmark to implement the sustainable coastal fishery project (SCF) by signing Myanmar-Norway ICC and Myanmar-Korea MoU.
The Fisheries Department cooperate with EU-GIZ to design the fishery sector sustainability strategy in Myanmar and is implementing fish/prawn breeders. The department is committed to prevent the extinction of aquatic life, sustainability of fish breeds in natural waters, adequate fish supply, increasing the education and socioeconomic standards of local residents through fish breeding by supplying 1,48.855 million fish fingerlings.
As a result, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is committed to the development of the agriculture, livestock and irrigation sector to elevate national development and benefit the people of the nation. (Translated by Pen Dali)
