MYANMAR and Thailand are likely to begin contract farming of some crops early next year under an agricultural cooperation program, the Thai Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ms Sudarat Keyuraphan, said in Yangon on December 2.

Ms Sudarat said the two governments had already established a working group to implement the contract farming project, which will give priority to sugarcane, maize, tapioca, oil palm and rubber.

Farmers who grow perennial crops such as oil palm and rubber will be able to practice mixed cultivation by growing beans and pulses to supplement their incomes, she said.

“Contract farming will be beneficial for both countries. Myanmar farmers will have opportunities to increase their incomes and they will also acquire technology from Thailand,” Ms Sudarat said.

She was speaking to Myanmar Times on the sidelines of a ceremony the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Yangon at which the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation.

The area devoted to contract farming in Myanmar would cover more than seven million hectares, Ms Sudarat said.

Myanmar could offer land and cheap labour while the Thai side would provide investment, as well as technology.

Thailand lacked adequate farmland and needed to import many agricultural products for processing before they were re-exported, Ms Sudarat said.

“In the beginning, the agricultural products will be processed in Thailand for export to other countries. But in the future, if we have enough products, maybe processing will take place in Myanmar,” she said.

Ms Sudarat said Thailand was also interested in growing crops in Myanmar that can be used to produce bio-fuel.

The contract farming move is part of a plan by Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia to collaborate on agricultural and industrial projects under the Ayeyarwaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy launched by the five countries at a their inaugural summit held in Bagan in November 2003.

During the grouping’s summit in Bangkok early last month, the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, said his government would apply zero tariffs to imported crops grown under contract farming schemes in neighbouring countries to help accelerate the implementation of the project.

The director general of the Department of Agricultural Planning, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, U Tin Htut Oo, said after the summit the leaders of the five countries had emphasised the speedy implementation of contract farming to help alleviate poverty and improve food security.