Description:
Executive Summary:
"Myanmar is ready for change. This is particularly true of Myanmar?s rural sector, where 7 out of
every 10 people live and most people in poverty reside. Over half are employed directly in
agriculture, producing food for themselves, their communities, and for sale. Many others in rural
areas ? often without their own land ? work hard in rural non-farm enterprises transporting
produce, processing foods, and providing needed services. Others may migrate in search of work
in Myanmar?s cities or abroad. Yet despite its location at the crossroads of the most
economically dynamic region in the world, Myanmar has among the highest rates of poverty and
malnutrition in the region.
Myanmar?s Asian neighbors have shown that, in response to consumer demand for increasingly
diversified diets as incomes and urbanization rise, investing in rural infrastructure and
establishing policies to encourage their farmers to produce products that meet market needs will
unleash a virtuous circle of growth among farmers, food processers, and service providers who
are linked to growing urban centers and export markets. Raising productivity and diversifying
from low-value grains into high-value meats, oilseeds, pulses, horticulture, and aquaculture
stabilizes food expenditures for increasingly urban consumers, raises incomes for rural areas, and
strengthens competiveness in regional and global markets. Among Asian neighbors, it has helped
raise millions of rural people out of hunger and poverty.
Myanmar is ready to seize that promise for its own future. Myanmar needs to break away from a
legacy of policies that have held back, rather than stimulated, its farmers? potential. A mind-set
change is needed to step out of the business-as-usual approach that focused on supply-led, yield
increases and domestic food self-sufficiency. Agriculture policy needs to shift to an innovative
vision that centers on a demand-led approach driven by domestic consumers and foreign markets
with increased productivity throughout the sector. To succeed in practice, narrow silos of
thinking and communication among the government, the private sector, and civil society should
be broken down to encourage more harmonious and coordinated efforts.
This new Vision is inherent in the title of this White Paper ? moving from rice bowl to a food
basket for Myanmar and increasingly to the rest of Asia (and the world). The aim is to improve
the incomes and livelihoods of rural communities while increasing the availability of more
stable, diversified, and nutritious diets to consumers. This objective can be achieved by
empowering smallholder farmers, equipping them with knowledge and technical inputs,
and connecting them to urban and global markets.
vi
In place of a government-driven focus on crop production targets, the paper offers a concrete and
systematic strategy for how Myanmar can modernize its agricultural and food sector. The
strategy embraces market-oriented, private sector-led investment, innovation, and dynamism that
is centered on small farmers throughout the country. It requires forward-looking and efficient
government policies and institutional support with greater interaction among key stakeholders
characterized by full transparency and accountability..."
Source/publisher:
National Economic and Social Advisory Council (NESAC)
Date of Publication:
2016-04-06
Date of entry:
2016-06-26
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
824.05 KB