Rice is a staple food of Myanmar people as well as those of almost all Asian countries. Moreover, many global countries use rice as raw materials for making foodstuffs in their traditions.
Being a developing country, Myanmar earns income from commodity export, including paddy. In this regard, the export of rice plays a pivotal role in achieving revenue for the State.
Within more than six months this financial year, Myanmar has bagged US$448.322 million from the export of rice and broken rice weighing about 1.175 million tonnes to more than 30 customer countries, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The country earned US$277.699 million from the exportation of 685,433.093 tonnes of rice to over 30 global countries from 1 October 2020 to 16 April 2021. Meanwhile, the export of broken rice weighing 489,822.950 tonnes obtained US$170.632 million.
On the right track of those three parties, a larger volume in the export of rice and broken rice can earn income for the State as well as for the private sector. So, they need to choose the option, right track or not!
However, Myanmar secured US$497.522 million of income—over US$340 million from the export of more than 1 million tonnes of rice and over US$150 million from sending out more than 580,000 tonnes of broken rice—during the same period of last budget year.
As such, the earning of income during the six and a half months’ period this financial year was some US$50 million less than that of the last budget year.
Farmers place monsoon and summer paddy on some 18 million acres of farmlands on a yearly basis. But, paddy plantations were cultivated on 17.31 million acres in the 2019-20 financial year, and it was the least sown acreage of paddy within the five-year period.
Sown acreage, per-acre yield and exportation are interrelated to one another in the agricultural sector. The government needs to encourage farmers to extend their farmlands to grow paddy. Farmers need to strive for increasing the per-acre yield of paddy by using various agricultural inputs and modern techniques. Exporters need to perform initiatives on how to manage the increased volume of rice export.
On the right track of those three parties, a larger volume in the export of rice and broken rice can earn income for the State as well as for the private sector. So, they need to choose the option, right track or not!
