Over 87,000 acres of summer paddy to cultivate in Shwebo

More than 87,000 acres of summer paddy will be cultivated in Shwebo District, Sagaing region with the use of irrigated water from Thaphanseik Dam, said U Tin Maung Swe, head of the Shwebo District Agriculture Department.
“More than 87,000 acres have been planned to cultivate with the use of dam water. We have already seeded nearly 4,000 acres of paddy. So far, we have grown over 10,000 acres of paddy. We have directly cultivated over 99,000 acres. We have sown over 10,000 acres of different paddy species. Most of the paddy species are Shwe Thwe Yin and IR 747,” said U Tin Maung Swe.
Sagaing region is targeted to grow over 250,000 acres of summer paddy and about 75,000 acres of other crops in Shwebo district. Since the receipt of the irrigated water supply from the Thaphanseik Dam on 7 February, local farmers have been collecting the seeds, while the Agriculture Department distributes the seeds.
“Currently, local farmers are conducting their agricultural working process. All of them are planning to grow summer paddy.  Currently, the farmers are more likely to plant the seeds directly because of transportation problems. But some sow the seeds to get seedlings. There are a lot of seeds being planted yearly. But this year, the sown acreage of sowing the seeds and planting the seeds are the same,” said U Tin Maung Swe.
The cultivators are sowing the seeds in the third week of March. About 75,000 acres of other crops have been targeted to grow. So far, over 23,000 acres of other crops were cultivated while over 20,000 acres of summer sesame and green gram were cultivated.
“Currently, the government is providing fertilizers to local farmers, while the Agriculture Department is providing agricultural technical assistance. They are also distributing pamphlets for giving awareness through the Facebook page, Messengers and Viber. Now, farmers are cultivating the summer paddy abundantly,” said U Tin Maung Swe. — Lu Lay/GNLM