Book Launch
IFPRI-HQ Office
12th floor conference room
1201 Eye St NW
Washington, DC, United States
October 10, 2024
9:30 – 11:00 am (America/New_York)
3:30 – 5:00 pm (Europe/Amsterdam)
7:00 – 8:30 pm (Asia/Kolkata)
Myanmar has endured multiple crises, including COVID-19, global price instability, the 2021 coup, and widespread conflict, that have disrupted and even reversed a decade of economic development. Household welfare has declined severely, with more than 3 million people displaced and many more affected by high food price inflation and worsening diets. Yet Myanmar’s agrifood production and exports have proved surprisingly resilient.
A new IFPRI book, Myanmar’s Agrifood System: Historical Development, Recent Shocks, Future Opportunities, provides critical analyses and insights into the agrifood system’s evolution, current state, and future potential. This work fills an important knowledge gap for one of Southeast Asia’s major agricultural economies—one largely closed to empirical research for many years. It is the culmination of a decade of rigorous empirical research on Myanmar’s agrifood system, including through the crises. Edited by Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, Ian Masias, and Bart Minten, the book’s insights can serve to guide immediate humanitarian assistance and inform future growth strategies, once a sustainable resolution to the current crisis is found.
Please join us at the International Food Policy Research Institute on October 10, 2024, from 9:30AM to 11:00AM.
Welcoming Remarks
- Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI; Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR
Overview of the Book
- Duncan Boughton, Professor, Michigan State University
- Ben Belton, Research Fellow, IFPRI & Associate Professor, Michigan State University
- Isabel Lambrecht, Research Fellow, IFPRI
- Ian Masias, Deputy Chief of Party, Myanmar Agriculture Program for Strategy and Analysis, IFPRI
- Bart Minten, Senior Research Fellow/ Program Leader of the Myanmar Strategy Support Program, IFPRI
Special Remarks
- Kyi Nyein Chan, Programme Management Specialist, Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT)
- Andrew Laitha, PhD Candidate, Food Systems Economics and Policy (FSEP) Group, ETH Zürich
- USAID Representative
Moderator
- Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI