2,301 acres set for winter sunflower oil crop in Kayah State

The hybrid sunflower type 1, a winter sunflower, has been cultivated on 2,301 acres in Kayah State, with the cooperation of the Department of Agriculture, relevant departments and farmers, under the supervision of Kayah State.
There are over 2,300 acres of winter sunflower plantation including a model plantation. The department sold a three-kilogramme seed cap of hybrid sunflower type 1 and a bag of pearl fertilizer to each of 2,301 farmers at a lower rate in Loikaw on 13 September. Thus, the winter sunflower has been planted in the second week of September and can be harvested around the end of October.
“Since working together with the state government, we have achieved success in the agricultural sector. We conducted awareness programmes for farmers and supported them. The acreage has been increased to expand the plantation more than the previous year. We educated farmers on seed, fertilizer and technology knowledge. We succeed in planting rice and sunflower in the rainy season. The ability to expand sunflower cultivation this year has resulted from the cooperation between state government, departments and cultivators,” added Daw Nan Lwin Lwin Sein, the Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture, Kayah State.
To produce more oil crops this year as in other regions and states, the state government and related departments are making an effort through the coordinated action of farmers, in rice and oil crops cultivation of the state and allowance of state financial support. In addition to rainy-season rice crops, more than 59,000 acres of corn, an industrial crop, were planted. Among perennial crops such as coffee, Konjac and avocado, 65,000 saplings of all crops except Konjac were distributed by the department free of charge to farmers with the state government budget for the development of the agricultural sector both in the state and the border, at the end of June.
The agricultural sector is being provided with financial support from the state. The Department of Agriculture is helping farmers to get income from perennial crop cultivation and seasonal crop cultivation in Kayah State by selling seeds, seedlings and fertilizers at an affordable price. About two thousand and three hundred acres of winter sunflower oil crops will be harvested by the end of October. — Nyein Thu(MNA)/ GNLM