AGRICULTURE is pursued by man at several levels e.g. subsistence, as a hobby and as a commercial venture. Whatever the level of production, the ultimate goal has always been to maximize the production effort. This is usually assessed by the yield and the physical appearance of the produce. We will have to acquire, adapt and develop technology as the propellant, so to speak of our research activities. We will not get far without the assistance of research in the rice industry. Such research must be appropriate to our needs and have a direct relevance to our resource base and our environment. We have to investigate the properties and the economic possibilities of our rice and paddy products among other things. The Néem plant is a member of the Mahogany family of trees and is found in tropical regions. This plant is known to possess insecticide and medicinal properties.
Indian farmers have used crushed néem seeds for centuries as a fertiliser and to protect rice fields from insect pest.
Scientists have found that the plant is effective against more than 200 insect species as well as various termites, nematodes, fungi, bacteria and even several viruses. It may be possible that Néem can be used to develop inexpensive, non-toxic and easily prepared alternative to certain synthetic pesticide, which are toxic to the environment. The staff of the Burma Rice Research Station should focus on what was done in the past years, and what strategies should be implemented to improve the rice industry in the following years with the $60M boost given by government.
The specialist attached to the Station must continue working on the blast disease, pest, paddy bugs, plant hoppers, sheath rots and the development of new El Nino rice varieties since we are facing long dry weather in the rice belt. Field trials and actual farm use in my tenure have shown that when properly used commercial fertilizers can result in significant economic advantage to the farmers. Breeding lines must be evaluated at different blast prone areas and blast resistant lines must be identified after conducting on farm evaluations. We must touch a national average yield of 40 bags per acre with new varieties throughout the rice growing regions, besides saving millions of dollars for blast control. This will also help to reduce the cost of production.