Sesame, the ideal crop for upper Myanmar

Sesame fills a number of roles in Myanmar’s culinary world and is used as a garnish, a snack on its own, a flavouring in some foods and as an oil for cooking, some of which is sold for export. The byproduct from oil production, oil cake, is also used as feed for livestock and fish farms.


Sesame’s main growing season is the monsoon months, although smaller crops are grown during the cool season and hot season. The country’s sesame sown area in 2011-12 was estimated at 3.94 million acres by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. Of the sown area, 80 percent was within the central dry zone, which comprises parts of Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe regions and makes up the major growing area for oilseed crops.

The central dry zone has an ideal climate for sesame cultivation, which requires water but not as much as is available in lower Myanmar, which sees much heavier rains.

The monsoon crop is planted in May and harvested in August, quickly unleashing new supplies into markets.

Sesame sown in September or October and harvested in December is the cool season harvest. For this crop, farmers rely on residual moisture in the soil. Sesame sown in March and April, the hot season, relies on irrigated water and is harvested in June.

Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation statistics for the 2011-12 year show that yields per acre are highest in the hot season (14.80 baskets or 362 kilograms an acre), followed by cool season (12.48 baskets, 306kg an acre) and monsoon season (8.13 baskets, 199kg an acre). However, the increased yields per acre are offset by a heavily reduced sown area.

From a trading point of view, sesame is grouped into three colours: black (theikpanhnan), white, and mixed colour sesame, including red, brown, yellow and more.

Black sesame sells for about 16 percent more than white, which is more expensive than mixed sesame. The average spot price of black sesame, white sesame and other colour sesame in the second week of November was K2044-2471 a viss (1 viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds), K1774-2107 and K1690-1905 respectively.

Before 2011, Myanmar’s trade policy prohibited the export of mixed sesame but allowed white and black sesame to be sold abroad by private companies.

The result of that policy was that mixed colour sesame was mostly sold to mills and made into cooking oil.

source: The Myanmar Times
http://mmtimes.com/index.php/business/3509-sesame-the-ideal-crop-for-upper-myanmar.html