YANGON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has drawn up standards and specifications for 26 agricultural products to ensure them meet international standards and to bolster export through improving the quality of the products, according to the Agriculture and Market Information Agency Monday.
Standards of rice, beans and pulses, watermelon, banana, pomelo and coffee are among those approved, while standards for durian, mangosteen, muskmelon, peanut, sesame, mango, onion, corn, cashew nut, coconut and pineapple are being drafted for submission to the government for approval.
Myanmar is drafting the standards and specifications in both English and Myanmar languages with the help of local and foreign experts including those from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an official from the Consumer Affairs Department said.
Myanmar's Union Parliament enacted the law on Standardization on July 3, 2014, aimed at helping promote export by improving the quality of production organizations and their products as well as their services.
Myanmar's agricultural export reaches 1.28 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of the present fiscal year 2018-19 which started in October, an increase of 81.9 million U.S. dollars as compared with the same period of 2017-18 when it showed 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, according to the country's Commerce Ministry.
With rice, pulses, corn and rubber representing its major agricultural products, Myanmar is rich in land and water resources and has a climate favorable for agriculture and livestock production.
