Weed management becomes integrated in Myanmar

Training courses on integrated weed management in rice were held on 27-28 March and 16-19 October 2006, as part of the Myanmar outreach program’s thrust on capacity building. A total of 48 participants from the Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS) and the private sector attended these courses.

Topics discussed were rice crop establishment methods; introduction to weed management; chemical and nonchemical weed control, assessment of weed growth in the field; weed collection, weed identification, and herbarium preparation; herbicide calculation and application; and yield loss assessment. The topic on planning and conducting weed control research in rice was added to the second training course in October.

Participants gained hands-on experience in the field and laboratory in weed sampling, weed identification, herbarium preparation, and sprayer calibration and herbicide calculation. They reported the results of their field practical exercises to the whole group.