Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...

Burma ready to push rice production higher

Tuesday, 30 October 2012 13:12 Mizzima News

Burma is looking at turning its rice-growing sector into a major source of income over the next five years, with plans to double rice production, according to officials.

Burmese farmers collect paddy seedlings from flooded fields to replant in Irrawaddy Division outside of Rangoon. Photo: AFP

For decades, prior to the suffocating grip of a series of coups and military regimes, Burma was the world’s No. 1 rice importer.

Currently, Burmese rice is about US$ 10 to $20 per ton cheaper than a comparable quality from Vietnam, India and Pakistan, Jac Luyendijk, chief executive officer at SAT Swiss Agri Trading AG, which handles about $300 million worth of rice a year, said in a Bloomberg news agency story on Monday.

Overseas sales may climb to as much as 3 million metric tons by 2017 from 1.5 million tons in the year ending March 2013 as yields and infrastructure improve, Ye Min Aung, secretary-general of the Myanmar Rice Federation, according to Bloomberg news.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has predicted that Burma will increase rice production by 25 per cent to 750,000 tons for this year.

Burma’s production push is expected to lead to oversupply on the world market, acting to hold prices steady or lower.

Robert Zeigler, the secretary-general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, was quoted as saying: “We see Myanmar as an extremely important source for rice production - there’s no question about it.”

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