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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Zin Wai Aung

Research Analyst

Bio

Zin Wai Aung is a Research Analyst with the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Yangon.

Development Strategies and Governance

Publications

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Book Chapter

Vulnerability and welfare during multiple crises

2024van Asselt, Joanna; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Aung, Zin Wai
Details

Vulnerability and welfare during multiple crises

The triple transition that took place between 2011 and 2019 in Myanmar—from a planned to an open market economy, from military to civilian rule, from conflict to peace—was not without its limitations. As discussed in Chapter 1, poverty reduction was modest relative to economic growth, a fully democratic system was not established, and ethnic conflict continued in many areas. In this mixed context of social welfare improvements and unfulfilled reforms, COVID-19 hit—the first in a series of crises. The pandemic had an immediate adverse impact on Myanmar’s economy and pushed many households into poverty. Then, while the country remained under threat from the pandemic, in February 2021, the military took over in a coup, and Myanmar fell into a political crisis. Declines in welfare accelerated for many. One year later, the Myanmar economy faced sharp rises in prices for food, fuel, and fertilizer as a result of a global economic crisis triggered by the start of the conflict in Ukraine. This triple crisis—pandemic, political, economic— has had enormous impacts on welfare and livelihoods in Myanmar. (Chapter 1 summarizes how the triple crisis unfolded; refer to that chapter for details on the causes, levels, and apparent consequences of the sequence of shocks.)

Year published

2024

Authors

van Asselt, Joanna; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Aung, Zin Wai

Citation

van Asselt, Joanna; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; and Aung, Zin Wai. 2024. Vulnerability and welfare during multiple crises. In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 5, Pp. 121-148. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155152

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agrifood Systems; Development; Economic Shock; Governance; Vulnerability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Farm commercialization: A transformation on hold or in reverse?

2024Minten, Bart; Fang, Peixun; Naing, Phyo Thandar; Aung, Zin Wai; Win, Hnin Ei
Details

Farm commercialization: A transformation on hold or in reverse?

When food systems transform, farmers’ interactions with markets change dramatically. With changes from traditional to transitional to modern systems—as defined by Reardon and Minten (2021)— farmers move from mostly subsistence-oriented agriculture with few market interactions toward heavy reliance on spot markets for inputs, outputs, and services, and ultimately to contract farming. Such reliance on markets during these transformation processes has been shown to lead to significant improvements in farm performance and in agricultural households’ welfare. However, in a number of low- and middle-income countries, there is often a lack of clarity regarding which stage of transformation farms have reached and how to expedite such transformations. There is limited understanding of agricultural markets and farm commercialization in Myanmar in particular because of a lack of nationally representative and updated data on the farm sector. Moreover, over the past decade, the country has undergone substantial changes in its economic and agricultural market policies, as well as major COVID-19 and military coup shocks. This has all had significant impacts on the farm commercialization situation. To understand farm commercialization and its evolution, then, we first need an overview of these policy changes and shocks.

Year published

2024

Authors

Minten, Bart; Fang, Peixun; Naing, Phyo Thandar; Aung, Zin Wai; Win, Hnin Ei

Citation

Minten, Bart; Fang, Peixun; Naing, Phyo Thandar; Aung, Zin Wai; and Win, Hnin Ei. 2024. Farm commercialization: A transformation on hold or in reverse? In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 10, Pp. 245-277. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155182

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agrifood Systems; Commercialization; Development; Economic Shock; Farms; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Conference Paper

Conflict, inclusivity, and transformation of the rice value chain in Myanmar

2024Goeb, Joseph; Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; Htar, May Thet
Details

Conflict, inclusivity, and transformation of the rice value chain in Myanmar

In numerous low- and middle-income countries, agricultural value chains (AVC) are undergoing rapid transformation, yet scant evidence exists regarding such changes in fragile and conflict- affected settings, and little is known about inclusivity in this transformation. This study focuses on changes in Myanmar’s rice value chain – using unique large-scale primary data – from 2013 to 2022, during an economic boom and subsequent political upheaval and conflict. We document remarkable shifts, including a fourfold increase in rice exports, propelling Myanmar to the world’s fifth-largest rice exporter. Concurrently, domestic market conditions improved, and there was modernization in the ‘hidden middle’ of the value chain including increased investments in modern milling equipment and drying methods. At the farm level we note greater adoption of modern inputs (e.g., improved seed) and harvest/post-harvest technologies and increased reliance on modern specialized service providers. The transformation was not everywhere inclusive, and modernization in some areas decelerated due to conflict. Mills and farms in insecure and conflict-affected areas, as well as remote millers and smallholders, participated to a lesser extent, and the gaps widened during the crisis years. The rapid modernization in Myanmar’s rice value chain from 2013 to 2019 highlights the positive impacts of stable governance, infrastructure investment, and liberalization on AVC transformation while the observed variations in modernization inclusivity across different segments of the value chain underscore the complex interplay between governance, conflict, and AVC transformation. JEL Codes: Q13, Q17, Q18

Year published

2024

Authors

Goeb, Joseph; Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; Htar, May Thet

Citation

Goeb, Joseph; Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; and Htar, May Thet. 2024. Conflict, inclusivity, and transformation of the rice value chain in Myanmar. 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.344305

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agricultural Value Chains; Conflicts; Exports; Rice

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Conference Paper