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Roundup: Myanmar's severe flood brings down rice export in 2015-16 FY

Xinhua, January 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Myanmar's severe flood in 2015 has brought down the country's rice export during the year, registering a drop of more than 150,000 tons during the first 10 months (April-Jan.) of the fiscal year 2015-16 when only 830,000 tons of rice were exported.

In 2014-15, the country's rice export was registered as 1.8 million tons.

The export drop during 2015-16 was due to widespread flood which destroyed paddy fields across the country in monsoon season which lasted from June to October.

Deadly flood, triggered by heavy rainfall since June of the year, affected 12 regions and states out of 14 in Myanmar, destroying houses, farmland, railway lines, bridges and roads.

Nationwide death toll of the severe flooding rose to more than 121 with Rakhine state suffering most casualties, affecting more than 1.6 million people across the country.

The deadly flood also killed 4,650 cattle, displacing 85,400 people and destroying 10,956 homes and more than 88,120 hectares of farmland.

The Myanmar government declared in July last year four disaster zones namely Rakhine, Chin, Sagaing and Magway, of which Rakhine state was the worst-hit.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, about 344,493 hectares of farmlands were submerged, of which Rakhine state suffered the most which accounted for over 105,300 hectares.

Impacted by the deadly flood, Myanmar Rice Federation decided then to halt rice export until Sept.15 for domestic reserve.

The one-and-a-half-month freeze measure was taken then to ensure adequate supply of rice for the domestic market and to maintain stability of rice.

After the sensitive period, Myanmar resumed its rice exports in mid-September after lifting the freeze on rice export.

Thanks to quick recession of flood, Ayeyawaddy region, the country's prime source of rice, was not affected by the flooding as severely as other regions.

In the post-flood period, Myanmar has to make greater efforts to produce rice as growing demand of the crop from China, Africa and Europe prevails, said the federation.

On the other hand, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is also cooperating with Myanmar in promoting the country's rice production sector. Endit