Myanmar used to be one of leading rice exporter with suitable rice cultivation environment and Ayeyarwady delta (MAD) has been a major rice producing area in Myanmar. However, economic and political issues which limited governmental investment to agri...
Myanmar used to be one of leading rice exporter with suitable rice cultivation environment and Ayeyarwady delta (MAD) has been a major rice producing area in Myanmar. However, economic and political issues which limited governmental investment to agricultural development and cyclone Nargis in 2008 which destroyed field infrastructure have stagnated rice yield in MAD, resulting in one of the countries with low rice yield. It was assumed that there is a large yield gap, but little effort has been made in this regard. Therefore, this study was conducted to quantify yield gaps in association with factors affecting rice yield in MAD and to identify limiting factors by yield gap analysis. In addition, rice yield and factors of Myanmar and MAD were compared with those of Vietnam and its Mekong delta (VMD), which have a similar geographic condition.
Based on the survey conducted on farmers of MAD with a total of 1,117 farmers in 8 townships the effects of associated factors including region, cropping season, fertilizer cost, pesticide cost and seed on rice yield were examined. Boundary line analysis estimated yield potential (Yp) in each region and cropping season. Yield gap (Yg) calculated by subtracting mean actual yield (Ya) from Yp showed that monsoon season showed a lager yield gap than summer season. Among input costs, the greatest yield gap was observed in fertilizer cost, followed by seed and pesticide costs. Yield gap analysis suggested that MAD has a potential of narrowing yield gap up to 2.71 ton ha-1 by improving agronomic inputs and practices.
Rice yield and associated factors of Myanmar and MAD were directly compared with those of Vietnam and VMD as Vietnam and VMD are geographically similarly located in the Indochinese peninsular and used to have a similar rice yield until late 1980s. Comparison of rice yields and environmental and agronomic factors between Myanmar and Vietnam revealed a large yield difference between the two countries, 2.15 ton ha-1 in 2020. Yield difference has increased since 1989 at the annual increase rate of 0.067 ton ha-1 year-1. The large yield difference is attributed to multiple factors. Among environmental factors, precipitation showed the greatest difference between the two countries, suggesting that the heavier rainfall in monsoon and drier climate in summer season have limited rice cropping in MAD. Fertilizer use was found to be the most significant factor among agronomic factors. The current fertilizer use rate is still far behind the recommendation in MAD. In the case of agricultural infrastructure, irrigation is one of the key factors responsible for the rice yield gap and cropping intensity. Much lower irrigated rice cultivation has limited the rice cultivation in dry summer season in many regions of MAD. Based on the results, it was concluded that the use increase of fertilizer and high yield variety with high stress tolerance, particularly submergence tolerance, can be considered as a short-term strategic plan to close the yield gap, while land consolidation with drainage and irrigation channels can be considered as a part of long-term strategic plan.