Civil society organizations: Farmer organization
Location: Myanmar
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Mr. Ye Htut Aung, Ye Htut Aung Farm Owner
Ye Htut Aung started his career in Singapore in 2006 where he worked for two years after deciding to go back to Myanmar to take care of his family land. When he returned to his village, he started working as an agent for a chemical fertilizer company. In 2015 he had the opportunity to attend a two weeks’ farmer empowerment training conducted by the Agricultural Farmer Federation of Myanmar (AFFM) where he learnt basic sustainable organic agriculture concepts. Soon after, he realized the impact of chemical fertilizer on the environment and on his community and decided to engage towards a transition to sustainable agriculture. After being a trainer on good farming practices for over a year, he started his model farm in 2017 where he grows rice on 4.9ha as well as mushrooms and vegetables, especially green peas. He also rears cattle, poultry and goats.
Ye Htut Aung attended a 10 months intensive program at Eco Village Farm School conducted by NEED-Myanmar in 2016. Following this training, he introduced many changes in his farming practices. First of all, he steadily reduced the use of chemicals while increasing the output of organic compost.
The rice and vegetables are grown without any synthetic inputs and Ye Htut Aung makes his own compost and bio pesticides using local resources or ingredients that can be easily found in local markets and for a low cost. To boost the soil fertility, Ye Htut Aung creates and uses his own high quality compost or “bokashi” (goat, chicken and cow manure mixed with EM and rice husk and bran). Another important part of his farm management is the introduction of livestock to be able to achieve the goal of being a fully organic and natural farm. The poultry and cows roam the farm depositing nutrients rich manure and regulating the pests. With his compost and his livestock manure, he has a regular and sufficient source of nitrogen for his crops.