Bt120 bn sought for farmers in Myanmar

The move aims to enable farmers to cover their production costs after a decline in the monsoon paddy prices. Rice shipments have not grown despite the government allowing entrepreneurs to export rice in November under a three-month plan. 
“Export of paddy is one of the short-term measures to control declining prices. In addition, the Farm Produce Management Committee is to buy paddy from farmers at a fair price. When asking for money from the state’s revolving fund we have reached an agreement in principle,” said Khin Maung Lwin, assistant permanent secretary of the Commerce Ministry. 
The management committee will start buying rice in Yangon, Ayeyawady and Bago regions. 
“Another point is rice prices start [have started] going up slightly. But it has yet to reach last year’s price. Anyway, farmers will get some profits if the rice price is over 400,000 kyat per 100 baskets,” he said. 
The Myanmar Rice Federation planned to export 300,000 tonnes of rice between November and January, in cooperation with its member companies. It is expected to earn about US$90 million (Bt3.2 billion) from rice exports. 
The federation is making efforts to promote the private export sector. And it also plans to increase rice export volumes in the long term and reduce the trade deficit by accepting export earnings at domestic banks.