September 07, 2022
It is expected to end this year’s monsoon this month. Nowadays, lush and green paddy plantations are thriving in farmlands across the nation, showing the progress of monsoon paddy. Hence, rainfed and irrigated monsoon paddy plantations are waiting for the days of harvesting this season.
Farmers need to make preparations to grow summer paddy after harvesting monsoon paddy. In this regard, they need to choose the best option for their farming systems. Now, they have a chance to primarily choose the contract farming system or their own arrangement.
If they choose the contract farming system, they will have granted for taking quality strains of paddy seeds, fertilizers and diesel for operating their farmlands under the contracts signed for the cultivation of summer paddy in the 2022-2023 financial year with the aim of increasing the per-acre yield of summer paddy. Moreover, the provisions for the system will be worth K200,000 per acre to be supplied by the development fund.
The Myanmar Rice Federation is making arrangements to implement the contract farming system in growing 850,000 acres of summer paddy across the nation in the 2022-23 financial year. At this juncture, summer paddy growers and rice millers and rice companies must be grouped in respective townships so as to hold coordination for implementation of the supply chain financing process.
Although the government set the target to cultivate 850,000 acres of summer paddy across the nation, a total of 28 paddy companies and associate companies of the Myanmar Rice Federation have submitted their expressions of interest for growing 485,330 acres of summer paddy only. Hence, it is necessary to strive for meeting the target of growing summer paddy in time.
Now, the contract farming system has been adopted as a good plan for the agricultural sector. As such, farmers and businesspersons such as agricultural companies and rice millers need to cooperate with each other in the farming process to be able to win the best result. They have to give a helping hand to each other in farming work. If so, they will enjoy the benefit of the contract farming system.
Farmers are a reserved force for the nation-building task of the nation. Their productivity plays a key role in the development endeavours of the nation, providing sufficient food to the entire people as well as earning incomes of foreign exchange for the treasury of the State. Hence, an emphasis must be placed on improving the living standard of farmers with the facilitation of agricultural techniques and machinery.
