A roadmap to building Myanmar into the food basket of Asia

Another way to overcome this drawback is to encourage Farm Equipment Rental Services for downstream processing of raw materials such as; portable oil expellers, threshers, combines etc... that can be brought to the villages. Rural villagers are migrating to places like Yangon and Mandalay in search of work so that gradually there will be less people living in farming communities. It is becoming more difficult to find labour, so an alternative is to use portable/ mobile mechanization, thereby removing the need to transport crops to the city for processing hence reduce production cost.

Currently 80% of Myanmar's water canals are earthen which equates to high losses in delivery to the fields. The government plans to introduce concrete walled canals countrywide and investors can include this in their farm project planning. Approval is needed under Sustainable Development of Irrigation. Also on the checklist to be granted water usage rights; all dam projects must be "Multi-Purpose Use" in order to be considered.

Energy Requirement

Downstream processing, warehousing, and supporting cold room facilities need to be supported by energy (electricity) such Bio-energy, solar energy and mini-hydro (there are over 300 irrigation dams, which could be used to produce electricity).

Bio-Energy

Energy for rural development and downstream value adding of agribusiness must meet 3 criteria, the (3A's), AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY, & AFFORDABILITY

The best source for rural energy is Bio-energy. Availability of Biomass, e.g. rice husk, straw, Jatropha , giant grass (Bosakaing) etc.. are plentiful sources. To develop bio-energy in Myanmar algae is another good option and potential source for rural energy.

Bio-Village

One good approach is to create Bio-villages which will provide an inclusive approach to cater for the energy needs of each village through a centralized facility, since there is readily available biomass to support such a facility.

For the Bio-village to succeed it must have the following requirements.

• The village must have significant acreages of land under crop or animal production for food and/or biofuels.

• The area must be characterized as having low income and productivity.