Resource information
Introduction: "The goal of poverty alleviation is now seen as a high priority project for
Myanmar’s new
government.
In
public statements the new President, Thein Sein, has raised issues of
poverty in
Myanmar
as a problem
facing
the country (as opposed to a previous failure to
acknowledge any such problems.)
Support for this goal
was verbally
reiterated
in a
May
2011
Poverty Alleviation Seminar headed by Dr. U Myint, and again, more broadly, at an
August 2011 poverty alleviation seminar in Nyapidaw attended by President Thein Sein
and democracy icon Daw Aung San Su Kyi.
At both events speakers
presented papers
aimed at monetary reform, assessments of
Myanmar’s industrial sectors, infrastructure,
and agricultural development. Presenters overwhelmingly acknowledged the agricultural
sector as one in which improvements could be
made
to actually meet goals of addressing
poverty.
With 70% of
Myanmar’s population supported by agricultural related employment and
incomes, policies
to lower poverty levels
in this sector could
significantly
impact a
majority of the country’s residents. Currently, of these
residents, an estimated
32.7% remain under the country’s poverty line, though critics have described this number as low
(CIA World Fact Book, 2011).
Myanmar
is frequently
referred
to as the one time “rice
basket” of
Asia, often highlighting how far the agricultural
and economic systems of
Myanmar
have fallen.
This renewed interest in the development of
Myanmar’s
agricultural sector has the potential to reengage that historical presence of agricultural
vitality.
Addressing
the
status of
low income and small
land holders will be a key part of this
process
as farmers with
less then 1
and
up to 5
acres of
land represent
56% of Myanmar’s
farming population
(FSWG, 2011).
The economic security of small land hold farmers
offer one way to sustainably improve the agricultural system and financial
lyempower a
large population of Myanmar’s farmers.
This paper will examine the possible use of contract farming
with
small land holding
farmers
as a tool
to
capitalize on the opportunity to improve the economic growth of
Myanmar’s agricultural sector, as well as
to sustainably
improve
the livelihood, capacity,
and output
of
this demographic of
farmers.
It is important to highlight that
contract farming is not a blanket tool and
the positive
circumstances of successful cases
must be considered within Myanmar’s agricultural
context. Critics of contract farming highlight the
de-facto
inequality
farmers are
often
put
in
by a contract, along with the significant
risk
it can place on already fragile farming 2
environments
in
which
farmers risk everything. Such risks could be exacerbated by
Myanmar’s agricultural policy and political climate.
Yet,
contract farming has been used
with increasing frequency to meet the needs of small land holding farmers, and
companies that have specialist or niche farming needs. These contracts have led to a
range of benefits for both farmers and contracting companies.
The recent
agreement on
the part of the new government to make agricultural development and poverty reduction
policy goals, offers
a space
in
which
contract farming
opportunities
could support
the
small land hold farming
sector of Myanmar’s agricultural community.
Based on this consideration, this paper will briefly explore the
theoretical views of
contract
farming
currently used.
It
will then examine the
circumstances of previous
commercial or large contract farming attempts in
Myanmar that have been problematic, before presenting two cases of contract farming with small land holders, in Laos and
Cambodia.
From the analysis of
these
two successful cases originally documented by the
Asia Development Bank (ADB), this paper will work to identify positive and negative
lessons learned in ea
ch circumstance. This
paper will
examine the opportunities for the
application
of
these lessons to the context of Myanmar’s own small land hold farmers.
It will then conclude with a brief examination of the larger
policies
that would
have
impacted
contract farming implementation in
Myanmar, compared to the
policies
from
Laos and Cambodia which
have given rise to
successful
contract farming
programs with
small land hold farmers.
