The agriculture sector working group of the donor consortium – Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) in collaboration with the Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Michigan State University (MSU) organized a workshop on 18th August, 2016 during the visit of IFPRI’s Director General Dr. Shenggen Fan. The workshop was organized by Ms. Leslie Marbury of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and was chaired by Dr. Duncan Boughton of MSU. Four key presentations were made in two sessions followed by the discussions.
The first session of the workshop was on “International Perspectives on Agricultural Development and Food Security in Myanmar” in which one presentation was made by Dr. Fan on “Enhancing Food Security and Nutrition: Lessons from Asia” and another by Dr. Paul Dorosh, Division Director, Development Strategy and Governance Division, IFPRI on “Structural transformation and Emerging Policy challenges: Lessons for Myanmar Agriculture”. The discussions that followed these two presentations revolved around ways to increase the investment in the agriculture sector to meet growing food demand and ways to increase farmer’s income through opportunities in regional and domestic markets.
The second session of the workshop was based on discussing “An Evidence-Based Approach to Regional Development Strategy in Myanmar: The Case of Mon State.” The first presentation in this session, “Rural Household Livelihoods and Implications for Rural Development in Mon State”, was presented by Aung Hein, Research Team Leader, Food Security Policy Project, CESD. The second presentation in this session, by Dr. Zaw Oo, Executive Director of CESD was titled, “Mon State Regional Government Engagement on Rural Development Strategy: Approach and Outlook.” The discussion that followed the second session revolved around how to mobilize the resources for the implementation of the agricultural reforms, the role of evidence in the policy making process, and the critical issues related to the land policies and their implementation.
The participants also had an opportunity to interact with the speakers and follow up on specific issues addressed by them during presentations. More details on the workshop can be found here.