"...With 70 per cent of Myanmar?s population dependent on agriculture, credit reform could help the Asian nation reach its full productivity potential and enhance development, Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said after a United Nations-backed visit to the country. ?If you?re going to reduce poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], a focus on agriculture is absolutely essential,? Mr. Stiglitz told reporters after his trip. Surveys, he pointed out, have shown that the cost of credit is very high in Myanmar, with many farmers and casual labourers having to borrow money at interest rates of 10 per cent or more per month. The loans are reminiscent of ?pay day? loans in the United States, he said, except that the interest rates charged in Myanmar are even more ?usurious.? While in the country, the economist met with Government officials and academics, as well as visiting projects in rural areas. Farmers, he said, told him that while irrigation had increased their productivity, ?because they could not get the credit to buy fertilizer and high quality seeds, the full potential was not being realized.?.."