Agricultural Development in Myanmar: Lessons from Korean Experience

초록

Myanmar is endowed with vast natural resources. However, its performance in terms of economic development in general and agricultural development in particular has not been satisfactory. This paper reviews the current situation of Myanmar’s agriculture and rural development to draw lessons from the Korean experience and provide policy recommendations for Myanmar’s future direction. Myanmar’s agricultural and rural sector faces a number of constraints that need to be tackled. The major ones include: the unnecessarily high cost of production, unsatisfactory profits due to low productivity and poor quality of products, the increasing population and living costs, inadequate pricing policies both for agricultural inputs and products, low investment in agricultural research and development, inadequate human resource development, weak linkages in agricultural research and extension, inadequate access to agricultural credit, and lack of basic physical infrastructure. Moreover, lack of access to adequate high-quality seed and scarcity of farm infrastructure has been identified as notable impediments to the development of the agricultural sector. Other issues like lack of a well-established system for stabilizing price fluctuations in agricultural products and of marketing information, rural financial markets, coordination and cooperation among line ministries involved in agriculture and rural development activities also deserve a closer look for improvements. It is, therefore, imperative to share the Korean experience of agricultural and rural development. Accordingly, fine-tuning policies to changing economic conditions over time; finding a good mix of policies based on pressing needs and changing circumstances; setting-up appropriate institutions and policy context; empowering local community in rural development activities; and sharing the experience of the New Village Movement (Saemaul Undong) could be key lessons to draw from the Korean experience. Specific recommendations for Myanmar’s agricultural and rural development have also been forwarded based on the Korean experience.

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