AgroPages-SoilCares and Myanma Awba partnered to bring soil testing services to Myanmar farmers-Agricultural news

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The company SoilCares from the Netherlands will bring affordable, on-the-spot soil testing services with SoilCares Soil Scanners and Lab-in-a-box to Myanmar in cooperation with Myanma Awba group.

In Myanmar only 5% of the farmers have access to a soil laboratory and at present blanket recommendations are applied throughout the country. SoilCares together with the Myanma Awba Group will introduce fast, in field, affordable soil based fertilizer recommendations to farmers in Myanmar. As preparation for the market introduction the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Wageningen University and Research (WUR), SoilCares and Awba organized a two day conference in the capital Nay Pyi Taw of Myanmar. The workshop was supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands.

Rapid development

The Myanmar agricultural sector is developing rapidly, but is lagging behind in best practice and access to some technologies. SoilCares will introduce soil testing services with handheld and stationary sensor technology through the dealer network of the Myanma Awba Group, which currently consists of 13000 outlets. The introduction of the technology has the full support of the Government and during the workshop government representatives, NGOs, private sector and research jointly discussed best suited fertilizer recommendations for the Myanmar farming systems. These recommendation systems will be incorporated in SoilCares fertilizer module.

Calibration of the sensor technology is currently ongoing and field tests are foreseen for the monsoon season. SoilCares and Myanma Awba Group expect to go fully operational by the end of the year. Changing from the current blanket fertilizer recommendations to a more customised approach is expected to bring considerable benefit for millions of farmers.

Experiences

It all started by a market introduction tour initiated and organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in May 2016. Things can go fast when appropriate solutions are there and the right partners are found.