"The Government of Myanmar has positioned agricultural development as one of seven key pillars supporting and enabling inclusive and sustained economic growth. To achieve agricultural development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI), with technical assistance provided by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), developed the Myanmar Rice Sector Development Strategy (MRSDS) that seeks to boost rice production and thus better ensure food self-sufficiency and a larger share in the international rice trade for the country. The MRSDS is anchored on improving farm productivity, raising rice farmers? incomes, and enhancing the global competitiveness of Myanmar?s rice industry. Higher farm incomes, so crucial to poverty reduction and sustained food security, rely on increased productivity. Moreover, improved farm productivity enables affordable food supplies and competitive wage rates across the economy, thereby generating employment that enables the absorption of plentiful rural labor in off-farm and non-farm occupations, thereby accelerating the growth and modernization of the economy as a whole..."