Yangon to grow more than 23,000 acres of rain-fed groundnut, corn, vegetables

AS a plan on cultivation of oil crops and vegetables, local farmers in Yangon Region have an adequate supply of vegetable, 18 townships of the region slate to cultivate rain-fed groundnut, corn and vegetables on 23,007 acres of land this monsoon, according to the Yangon Region Department of Agriculture.
In Taikkyi Township, some 250 acres of land will be placed under rain-fed groundnut plantations and 168 more acres under corn plantations. Additionally, there are ongoing preparations for corn cultivation on 22 acres of land in Hlegu Township and 25 more acres in Hmawby Township.
Local growers decided to plant groundnuts in coming July and harvest them in September. They will start cultivation of corn plants in June and harvesting in August. Moreover, local farmers are making preparations for cultivation of other crops such as beans, corn and sesame as winter crops at the end of the monsoon.
Currently, pigeon pea, black bean, green gram as well as various species of beans in addition to coffee and corn are marketable across the world. Demands of consumers are high for these crops in both domestic and international markets. As such, farmers need to strive for cultivation of quality strains of these crops so as to achieve high yields by seeking the best agricultural ways and techniques.
In Myanmar, oil crops are generally cultivated in central Myanmar as well as Ayeyawady, Bago and Yangon regions while vegetables are grown in Ayeyawady and Yangon regions due to plentiful volumes of freshwater. With regard to the statistics on cultivation of oil crops, three million acres of croplands are placed under groundnut plantations, one million acres under sunflower and 3.5 million acres under sesame. But, only groundnut among them can meet the target production.
As a future prospect, if groundnut, sesame, sunflower and niger can systematically be grow on existing sown acreage of croplands to meet the target acreage, these crops can produce 1.369 million tonnes of edible oil. At the same time, increasing sown acreage of corn and maize are earning incomes of foreign exchange for the State.
That is why local growers need to emphasize cultivation of oil crops and vegetables and increase of per-acre yield of crops so as to produce healthy cooking oil and fresh vegetables to meet the demand of consumers.— GNLM/Nyein Thu (MNA)/TTA