Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and irrigation Dr Aung Thu provided assistance for farmers in Kawhmu and Kungyangon townships in Yangon Region as he visited the monsoon paddy fields in the townships on Saturday. At the briefing hall of Ma Gyi Tan Village’s monsoon paddy field in Kawhmu Township, Director-General of Department of Agriculture Dr Ye Tint Tun reported the Union Minister providing CERP funds and technical assistance for monsoon paddy seed producers and assigning agriculture staff at the paddy seed production fields.
Director-General of Cooperative Department U Aung Thura detailed the works of cooperative groups. At the meeting with paddy seed producers in Kawhmu, local cooperative groups reported on their works, and Hluttaw representatives on the region’s developmental requirements. Upon the reports, the Union Minister said it is obvious that cooperative businesses have made great efforts during COVID-19.
They could stabilize the market by promoting cooperation among their offices in different regions and states for transporting agricultural products from one place to another. Agricultural production and cooperative businesses are inseparable, he added. Cooperative syndicates, which are formed with farmers, can purchase and share agricultural machineries that are difficult to be bought by individual farmers. Farmers in cooperative syndicates can not only receive cooperative loans but also obtain market benefits by collectively selling their products at wholesale markets. Collective efforts can result a success, he added.
He urged the farmers to form cooperative syndicates, saying that the ministry is helping the famers to establish the cooperative groups in accordance with the laws. The Union Minister and party visited the rice seed production fields in Taw Kyaung Village in Kungyangon Township, and provided CERP funds to the farmers. Under the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP), the ministry will grow a total of 1.19 million acres of monsoon paddy in Yangon Region, including 383 acres in Kawhmu Township and 452 acres in Kungyangon Township. Of them, more than 900,000 acres were already planted.
The Union Minister provided fingerlings through CERP to farmers and also handed over VRFP funds for eight villages and Cash for Work funds for 10 villages to the village officials concerned at the mechanized farming camp in Kawhmu Township. The ministry will provide fingerlings for 67,328.19 acres of fish ponds in Yangon Region, including 3,562.17 acres in Kawhmu Township.
There are a total of 150,000 acres of fish ponds across the country, and the ministry will distribute the fish ponds fingerlings with the use of K 6 billion. An acre of the fish ponds will get K 40,000 worth of fingerlings. The Union Minister and party visited the rice husk drying machine and No.2 Irrigation Channel in Kawhmu Township where Irrigation and Water Utilization Management Department (IWUMD)’s Director-General and officials detailed the irrigation works. — MNA (Translated by Kyaw Zin Tun)
Photo; MNA
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