President Thein Sein, center, who spoke to farmers and officials near Naypyitaw.  Photo: President's office

Thein Sein said the government has been making economic and political reforms and the agricultural sector is the base of its economic program, accordant to an article on the President’s Office website.

Priorities should be given to the development of the livelihood of the peasants and to food security, he said, while stressing the need for scientific cultivation methods to grow high-yield crops.

Measures should be taken to extend from “double cropping to triple cropping,” he said.

Farmers should be assisted in their land preparation so that irrigation water can reach their farmland, he said. He said Burma’s rice production was currently lower than that of neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.

Triple cropping and high-yield production methods would lead to an increase in the value of land and enable farmers to get more loans, he said. 

A double and triple cropping system could also create more job opportunities for daily-wage farming labourers. Factories in the industrial sector would also create job opportunities for the people, he said.

He also called for milk and dairy product factories to be established across the country to promote health and food security.