Over 70,000 acres of monsoon crop plantations flooded in July, says Myanmar's junta govt

Donors distributing food to flood victims in Mawlamyine Township in early August. - Myanmar Eleven Media/ANN

YANGON, Aug 14 (Eleven Media Group/ANN): More than 70,000 of over 16.5 million acres of monsoon crop plantations grown in Myanmar in the rainy season of the current 2020-2021 fiscal year were submerged in July due to floods caused by heavy rain and high tide, according to the ministry of agriculture, livestock and irrigation.

Shortly after the plantations were damaged or destroyed, the ministry issued notices to local farmers to take measures for re-cultivation such as substitution of their crops with reserved saplings, direct seeding with the use of drum seeder, use of Dapog method, transplanter machines and systematic drainage system, combined use of natural fertilizer and Pale chemical fertilizer and use of pesticide if necessary.