Biotech Updates

Major Donors Pledge Grant to Boost Myanmar's Rice Production

December 5, 2012

The international community have expressed their desire to allot funds in order to support rice farmers in Myanmar to reach the country's production potential as the country comes out of isolation with recent political reforms.

According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), The European Union has pledged financial support to Myanmar's rice production while the World Bank recently ended its 25-year hold on grants to the country. Now, millions of dollars are being pledged to aid in the country's recovery. The research institution further projected that Myanmar can become a major force in the global rice trade, if the full potential of its vast and rich rice-producing areas, cradled by the Ayeyarwady delta, can be realized.

David Johnson, IRRI's coordinator for the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) added that interventions to reduce the vulnerability of Myanmar's farmers to extreme weather being caused by climate change mean promoting the use of rice varieties that can tolerate floods, salinity, and drought, as well as management approaches that support optimum performance of these improved rice varieties.

 View IRRI's news release at http://www.irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=12396:asia%E2%80%99s-next-rice-granary-myanmar?&lang=en.