A  TOTAL  of  60,000  acres  of  monsoon paddy more than last year will be planted this year within the Thaphanseik Dam-irrigated area, according to the Head  of  the  Shwebo  District  Department  of  Agriculture,  Sagaing Region.

Last  year,  more  than  420,000 acres of monsoon paddy were planned to be planted in the irrigated area of the dam and, this year, it is planned to cultivate  more  than  480,000  acres  of  monsoon  paddy  depending on the remaining water of the dam.

“Last year, the Thaphanseik  Dam  had  a  capacity  of  390,000 acrefeet and it covered 420,000 acres of monsoon paddy were cultivated in the irrigated area, and this year, since the dam has 850,000 acrefeet, 480,000  acres  of  paddy  were  planned  to  be  planted,  which  is more than 60,000 acres than last  year,”  said  Head  of  the  Shwebo  District  Department  of  Agriculture  U  Tin  Maung  Swe.

If it rains more this year and  the  inflow  of  water  into  the  dam  increases,  the  dam  will supply more paddy fields than the planned, he added.  In  the  Thaphanseik  Dam-irrigated area, 67,110 acres will be planted in the Kindat canal, 95,000 acres in the Kintat right canal, 202,890 acres in Shwebo canal and 115,000 acres in YeU canal, a total of 480,000 acres will be planted this year. The water supply for planting and ploughing  will  be  distributed  starting from 1 July 2021, according to the Sagaing Region Agriculture Department.

The  plan  to  cultivate  480,000 acres of monsoon paddy  in  the  Thaphanseik  Dam  irrigated area was approved by the coordination meeting of the district/township  agriculture  departments  on  8  June  2021.

Lu Lay

GNLM

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