Local farmers from Myingyan, Taungtha and Popa areas in Mandalay Region are enjoying fruits of cultivation that focuses on growing kitchen crops in addition to the onion along with the alluvial land of Sindewa Creek.
They relied on the cultivation of onion alone along both banks of Sindewa Creek in the past. Now, their income for daily life is higher because of growing kitchen crops such as roselle, rabbit green, Luffa gourd, Brinjal, Solanum molongena and bitter gourd on a manageable scale after harvesting onion.
“Growers can earn income from selling of kitchen crops in domestic markets even though they cannot sell out the onion. If local farmers can be provided with agricultural techniques, loans and inputs, they will be convenient for living standard without the need to sell onion in the monsoon,” said U Than Swe, agricultural technique observer from Natsaunt Village in Taungtha Township.
In the past, local people bought kitchen crops sent by those from various areas of Shan State. Now, they are engaged in the cultivation of such crops on a manageable scale. Particularly, local farmers from Htanpinchan, Natsaunt and Inte villages in Taungtha Township plant the crops on the vast croplands.
“We can earn income for families from the cultivation of kitchen crops. Now, local farmers grow the crops on a manageable scale. I plant roselle and rabbit green in early Tabaung. Within one month, I have sold some two tonnes of plants on sale. People from other villages buy our crops,” said farmer U Kyaw Hsan Win of Natsaunt Village in Taungtha Township.
Currently, local people grow onion and kitchen crops as well as chrysanthemum plantations on the bank of Sindewa Creek.
The alluvial land on both banks of the creek is very fertile soil for the cultivation of various kinds of crops. —Min Htet Aung (Mdy Sub-printing House)/GNLM
