Village Link, of which Myanma Awba Group is a majority stakeholder, has launched Htwet Toe, a cutting-edge agri-mobile app which empowers farmers to improve their yields, grow higher-quality crops, and make the most of their resources to increase crop productivity.

Htwet Toe (which means ‘higher yield’ in Myanmar) is designed to deal with the challenges farmers face with access to knowledge, products, and tools.  It serves as a platform to connect them with agricultural professionals, providing actionable, research-based advice through a live chat function where farmers may upload photos. The app also features timely updates on weather changes and crop market values and provides access to suppliers and buyers. This ensures farmers can reach out to lucrative markets, better agricultural input, and are better equipped to make informed buying and selling decisions.

According to the World Bank, Myanmar’s paddy yields (2.7 tons/hectare) are much lower than Southeast Asian neighbours Vietnam (6.8 tons/hectare), Thailand (6.5 tons/hectare) and China (5.7 tons/hectare). Despite having more arable land and a wide diversity of weather conditions, Myanmar’s productivity is held back by agricultural challenges and a lack of access to the right tools to facilitate better agricultural practices.

The launch of Htwet Toe marks months of testing since its beta launch in Dec 2017. Post-launch, Village Link plans to roll out more features in the second phase of the application’s development, with the support of a grant from the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) programme. The G4AW initiative is funded by the Dutch government and overseen by the Netherlands Space Office with the goal of increasing efficiency in water consumption and promoting sustainable food production in developing countries.