Myanmar is an agricultural country with rice as the main staple food crop, yet rice yields are lower than in many other Asian countries. Rice is often grown in rotation with legumes and other crops, and considerable potential exists for diversification of rice-based cropping systems with other crops. Fertilizer use is relatively low in Myanmar, and the rice farmers use little or no P and K fertilizer. Achieving balanced and efficient fertilizer use within rice-based cropping systems can consequently be important for rice and agricultural production.

The membership of Myanmar in the workgroup ‘Productivity and Sustainability’ of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) has enabled research and extension workers in Myanmar to benefit from the wealth of knowledge on past and ongoing activities on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) in Asia.

Milestones:

Developed locally adapted NPK fertilizer recommendations, which judiciously enable the targeting of available fertilizers to soil types and rice-growing areas in order to achieve profit for farmers and sufficient rice production for the country.

Demonstrated the potential benefit arising from integrated use of balanced fertilization with improved rice management.

Established a nationally accepted approach for evaluation and demonstration of improved SSNM involving on-farm evaluation, use of superimposed nutrient addition plots, and use of the nutrient omission plot technique.

Demonstrated the merits of integrating SSNM with improved practices for establishment of the rice crop. These practices involved sowing rice with a drum seeder in the dry season and transplanting rice seedlings grown with a modified mat nursery technique in the wet season.
Prepared literature in the local language on the improved nutrient management practices including the use of the leaf color chart (LCC) for N management. Myanmar-02