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 financially empower 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.