MYANMAR and Thailand have begun talks on a project to establish contract farming zones as part of an economic cooperation strategy agreed at a four-nation summit in Bagan last November.

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The deputy director general of the Department of Agricultural Planning, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Dr Toe Aung, told Myanmar Times last week that feasibility studies on developing the zones were also under way.

The project will enable Myanmar land to be developed with Thai government and private sector assistance.

Dr Toe Aung said Thai agri-based industries will provide seeds, technology and equipment for the zones and Myanmar farmers will provide the labour and grow crops under contract.

“The cooperation will be between Thai investors and Myanmar farmers or government departments or both,” he said.

He said that as well as transferring technology to Myanmar, the zones would also create employment opportunities for workers who might otherwise seek jobs in Thailand.

Thai investors were interested in growing maize, soy beans, pineapples, castor oil plants, rubber and sugar cane in the zones.

Dr Toe Aung said the investors were interested in processing agricultural produce at factories to be established in border areas under a Thai-Myanmar agreement on industrial cooperation.

The contract farming project is linked to a plan under the economic cooperation strategy to establish industrial zones at three sites in Myanmar, including one near the border town of Myawaddy.

They were among a series of projects agreed at the summit, which was also attended by Cambodia and Laos.

The department’s assistant director, U Aung Hlaing, said the strategy would strengthen the cooperation between Myanmar and Thailand.

Thai government assistance under the strategy included scholarships for training courses, he said.

About 50 ministry employees would travel to Thailand soon to attend short courses in crop and post-harvest management as well as sustainable agriculture techniques.

Dr Toe Aung said the cooperation strategy also provided for Myanmar and Thailand to share water resources.

He said surveys had begun of possible dam sites in Kayin State and Tanintharyi Division.

“We will use them as one of the sources of water for the contract farming zones and to supply water to some areas of Thailand,” Dr Toe Aung said.