A century of rice improvement in Burma - IRRI books - International ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Table 35. Rice area planted, by grain type, 1960-85.PeriodPercentage of area planted toA 0 C D E1961-651966-701971-751976-801981-851213162142461012175852464223202119171068988Sources: Department files, Agricultural Corporation.MV area expanded, it concentrated its activities on the new MV seeds. Theexperimental stations bred new MV strains and carried out breeder andfoundation seed multiplication activities.Seed farms throughout the country were also involved in foundation seedmultiplication. There were no commercial seed producers, but the DA registeredsome farmers who, serving as seed growers, produced certified seed.Seed was important in the drive for higher rice production especially whenMVs constituted a critical component. The seed distribution program, however,fell short of expectation. The yearly distribution of improved seed during theperiod is shown in Table 36.Table 36 indicates that the volume of seed distributed increased from 1,400t in 1961 to 10,000-20,000 t in later years. Even this amount covered only 5-7%of the sown area. There remained a lot more room for improvement. The WorldBank assisted the seed program by providing the experimental stations andseed farms with the necessary equipment. Under existing threshing practices,seed needed to be replenished with pure strains at least once in 3 yr. Theexpansion of MVs also required distribution of seeds of new varieties duringthe first year. There were also seed exchanges among farmers, but a systematicand well-organized seed program was found essential to aid in the drive forhigher production.FertilizersChemical fertilizer was an important input during this period. The use offertilizer increased steadily at an annual rate of approximately 10% until 1967.The rate then increased rapidly as more MVs were used in rice production.MVs would not be able to exhibit their high-yielding potential unless accompaniedby a reasonable dose of fertilizers. Acceptance of fertilizers byfarmers was largely because of their acceptance of MVs. Before the advent ofMVs, fertilizer use was not popular, in spite of low prices and credit availability.Thus, MVs and fertilizers were integrated simultaneously in Burmese agriculture.In subsequent years, a dynamic agricultural extension programgreatly promoted fertilizer utilization. Although supply always exceededdemand before this extension effort, demand far surpassed supply during theRICE PRODUCTION UNDER THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC GOVERNMENT 67
Table 36. Distribution of improved seed, 1961-85. aAmount Area %Year distributed coveredarea(t) b(ha)coverage19611968196919701971197219731974197519761977197819791980198119821983198419851,47010,5804,65011,97014,9008,88018.78019,39011,3304,0004,2408.94013,73036.06010,73010,63013,25019,02015,63028,000205,00090,000232,000290,000172,000365,000377,000220,00078,00082,000174,000267,000700,000208,000206,000257,00039,000304,0000.64.11.84.75.83.57.27.34.21.51.63.35.113.74.24.25.37.56.2a 1961, 68-70 data taken from SRUB 1972; 1970-74 data taken from SRUB 1977; 1975-78 datafrom SRUB 1979; 9179-82 data from SRUB 1984: and 1983-85 data from SRUB 1987. b Amountdistributed converted from baskets to t andcalculated for area coverage with the common seedingrate.program years. The need for more fertilizers became apparent as the areaplanted to MVs expanded.In earlier days, farmers did not want to use fertilizers for fear of spoilingthe soil or making it too dependent on fertilizers. They also doubted theprofitability of using fertilizers. But they soon found out that the high-yieldingpotential of MVs could not be realized without fertilizers. Compared withother crops, the share of rice in the use of fertilizer was low in the beginning,but it soon took a major portion after more areas were planted to MVs. Theyearly utilization of fertilizer is given in Table 37.Fertilizer utilization in Burma rose from about 17,000 t in 1960 to 417,000t in 1985, constituting a 25-fold increase in a period of 25 yr (Table 37). Theincrease was most pronounced in the 1970s. The share of rice in fertilizerutilization was about 40% in the beginning of the period, rising to about 70%as MV areas expanded. Rice enjoyed more than 80% of the share during thespecial extension program.Initially, sugarcane, jute, cotton, groundnut, and rubber utilized a substantialamount of fertilizer. (These crops were separately handled by ARDCon a project-to-project basis.) Furthermore, local rice varieties did not respondwell to fertilizer. But as more as fertilizer-responsive MVs were sown, rice took68 A CENTURY OF RICE IMPROVEMENT IN BURMA
Page 3 and 4:
The International Rice Research Ins
Page 5 and 6:
Rice trading 29Rice milling 29Rice
Page 8:
ForewordRice dominates Burma’s ec
Page 11 and 12:
ice production in the last decade.
Page 14 and 15:
CHAPTER IIntroductionBurma is situa
Page 16 and 17:
1. Trends in rice area and producti
Page 18 and 19:
3. Soil distribution.INTRODUCTION 5
Page 20 and 21:
and the rest of the country in 1885
Page 22 and 23:
Rice production growth during this
Page 24 and 25:
4. Rice threshing with cattle.5. Ri
Page 26 and 27:
7. Transplanting.Farmers classify r
Page 28:
8. States and Divisions (1-7 are di
Page 43: Table 11. Rice mills, 1894-1934 (DA
Page 51 and 52: Rice area and productionAlthough th
Page 53 and 54: Table 16. Rice production in select
Page 55 and 56: Tenants of State Agricultural BankA
Page 57 and 58: in 1960, representing a 17% increas
Page 59: Table 20. Summary of extension acti
Page 62 and 63: Table 24. Rice procurement by diffe
Page 64 and 65: This trade reduction severely affec
Page 66: conditions and a weak international
Page 69 and 70: the design, implementation, and eva
Page 71 and 72: Table 27 indicates the areas plante
Page 73 and 74: The coastal zone comprised four ric
Page 78 and 79: In the meantime, local researchers
Page 83 and 84: All fertilizers were imported until
Page 85 and 86: points, 3) availability of cash amo
Page 87 and 88: hispa Hispa armigera. Though annual
Page 89 and 90: The amounts of agricultural loans g
Page 91 and 92: from double-cropped areas (Table 44
Page 93 and 94: when investment in the agricultural
Page 96 and 97: The program brought research and ex
Page 98 and 99: Table 46. Average area of responsib
Page 100 and 101: established practice among farmers,
Page 102 and 103: 12. Voluntary labor harvesting rice
Page 104 and 105: of harvesting. It sought voluntary
Page 106 and 107: nents that a larger project would r
Page 108 and 109: Table 48. Changes in area planted t
Page 110 and 111: Table 50. Average yield and product
Page 112 and 113: Results of analysisOf the variables
Page 114 and 115: Of the 19 variables used, 11 were s
Page 116 and 117: weather that it influenced rice pro
Page 118 and 119: Table 54. Present level of technolo
Page 120 and 121: size of holdings, 40% of the prize
Page 122 and 123: average yield at that time was 2.20
Page 124 and 125: Table 59. Monthly transactions of t
Page 126 and 127: Table 61. Irrigated areas for rice,
Page 128 and 129: Table 62. Tillage operation by trac
Page 130 and 131:
18. AFPTC rice procurement center.A
Page 132 and 133:
Table 65. Annual rice procurement (
Page 134 and 135:
for seeds; still others sold their
Page 136 and 137:
primarily to help achieve the AFPTC
Page 138 and 139:
Table 67. Annual rice production an
Page 140 and 141:
Table 68. Comparison of paid-out co
Page 142 and 143:
CHAPTER VImplications for the futur
Page 144 and 145:
agricultural research can be brough
Page 146 and 147:
Motivation of scientistsUnder these
Page 148 and 149:
or as individuals. Research is to b
Page 150 and 151:
CHAPTER VIConclusionsBurma’s econ
Page 152 and 153:
References citedAdas M (1974) The B
Page 154:
SRUB—The socialist Republic of th
Page 157 and 158:
Appendix 1 continuedSown area Produ
Page 159 and 160:
Appendix II continuedShareRice a Al
Page 161 and 162:
Appendix IV continuedYear Exports Y
Page 163 and 164:
Appendix VIcontinuedVariable Symbol
Page 165 and 166:
All combined1977-84 1977-78 1978-79
Page 167 and 168:
Appendix VIII. Correlation coeffici
Page 170 and 171:
IndexAdas, M 6Africa 125, 137Agricu
Page 172 and 173:
farmers 6-9, 13, 18, 23, 25-26, 29,
Page 174 and 175:
Okpo Small Loan Department110, 111O
show all

A century of rice improvement in Burma - IRRI books - International ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?