Farmers in Mandalay Division inspect sunflowers before the harvest.

THE April harvest of sunflower seeds in Mandalay Division will be far higher than last year as cultivation of the oil crop has exceeded expectations by a factor of three, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said last week.

The divisional manager of the Myanma Agriculture Service under the ministry, U Aung Kyin, said Mandalay Division has grown nearly 300,000 acres of sunflowers this year, far above the expected 100,000 acres.

“The target was exceeded because we strongly encouraged farmers to grow sunflowers as a mixed crop along with whatever other crops they were growing,” he said. “Our intention was to boost the income of farmers and to help Myanmar become self-sufficient in the area of edible oil.”

“If the winter sunflowers get more moisture just before the April harvest, we can also expect the flowers to be more resistant to pests and the seeds to be bigger,” said U Aung Kyin.

Last year sunflowers were grown on about 120,000 acres in Mandalay Division.

According to statistics released by the Market and Information Service under the ministry, the production of edible oil in Mandalay Division, which has a population of 7.5 million, last year was 60 per cent higher than the division’s requirement. This year production is expected to be 80 per cent higher.