NEWS - Myanmar Launches More Irriga

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NOTE: How much of this was though forced slave labor ???

Myanmar Launches More Irrigation Projects

        Xinhua
        21-MAY-98

        YANGON (May 21) XINHUA - Myanmar
        has launched more dams and water
        projects in a bid to boost agriculture,
        especially in the central part where
        agriculture mainly depends on irrigation
        water. 

        Official newspaper The New Light of
        Myanmar Thursday reported that irrigated
        areas in the entire country in fiscal
        1996-97 made up of 16.4 percent of the
        total sown land, up 12.5 percent from the
        previous fiscal year, thanks to successful
        implementation of 86 irrigation projects. 

        Of the 18 million hectares of cultivated
        land in the country, only 9 million hectares
        were planted with various crops annually,
        the paper said. 

        The report said that in 1996-97 alone,
        more than 60,750 hectares of virgin and
        fallow land were reclaimed. 

        The Myanmar government designated
        agriculture as the nation's main economic
        sector in an endeavor to develop the
        national economy. 

        Thirty-five percent of the country's export
        earnings are from the agricultural sector
        which contributes 36 percent to the
        national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

        The country's GDP grew by 5.8 percent in
        1996-97, during which agriculture
        production increased by 3.7 percent. The
        targeted GDP growth for 1997-98 is 6.4
        percent, with an agricultural growth of 6.3
        percent. 

        The agriculture sector employs 64 percent
        of the nation's working force.