El Nino has had an adverse effect on crop growing in the arid zone in cen-tral Myanmar, state media has re-ported. The term refers to a band of warm water temperatures that periodically devel-ops off the Pacific coast of South America.
The drought conditions in the arid zone have affected traditional crops like sesame, beans and peas although the planting of these crops has begun in Monywa, Magway and Pakokku.
The EL Nino effect is forecast to last from May until June of next year with the worst condition predicted to take place during the month of December. Effects include declin-ing rainfall, hot weather, drought and a late start and early departure of the monsoon season.
Myanmar is one of the world’s main bean and pulse exporting countries with the ma-jority of its produce exported to India. A total of US$ 896.3 of beans was produced in 2013-14 with Matpe (mung beans) and Pedesein (green mung) varieties making up the bulk of these exports.
Beans and pulses are among the 10 major items of agricultural crops that Myanmar grows. Among them, gram, lablab bean, pi-geon pea, butter bean and soya bean are cul-tivated all over the country.
