Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Food vendors May 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-06-11 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Research Note presents the results from seven rounds of a telephone survey with food vendors conducted in rural and urban zones throughout Myanmar, focusing more specifically on the results from the last round completed in May 2021. The purpose of the survey is to provide data and insights to interested stakeholders in order that they better understand the effects of shocks related to COVID-19 and the ongoing political crisis on Myanmar’s food markets. In particular, the note explores COVID-19 prevention measures, changes in shopping behavior, difficulties in food vendor operations due to the COVID-19 and political crises, changes in availability and prices of foods, and perceived changes in consumption.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Food vendors July 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-08-13 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most food retail prices in July 2021 were found to be higher than in the same period in 2020. Retail prices of the cheapest variety of rice–by far the most important staple in Myanmar–have risen by 13 percent, on average. Relative to a year ago, national-level food price inflation in July 2021 stood at 7 percent. Food price inflation was relatively higher in rural versus urban areas and in the Dry Zone and the Coastal areas. Households in the poorest quintile faced much higher food price inflation (10.4 percent) than those in the richest quintile (4.3 percent) as rice and cooking oils, which prices have increased substantially over the last year, are relatively more important in the poor’s food basket. Over the last year, prices rose most rapidly in the first half of 2021; the cost of a food basket in July 2021 was 8 percent higher than in December 2020. Food availability is seemingly not a challenge at the national level in July 2021. Food vendors report that the availability of most commodities is comparable to the same period in a normal year. About three-quarters of food vendors indicate that customers are buying less animal-sourced foods (i.e., chicken and pork) compared to normal periods. This likely is an indication of reduced consumer income as well as higher prices for those products. COVID-19 prevention measures were widely practiced by market vendors in 2020. However, they had been abandoned by a substantial share of the vendors surveyed in May 2021. Adoption rates in July 2021 improved compared to the previous survey round in May 2021 but were still below 2020 levels.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Food vendors September 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most food retail prices in September 2021 were found to be substantially higher than in September 2020. Retail prices of the cheapest variety of rice–by far the most important staple in Myanmar–have risen by 8 percent, on average. The relatively more expensive but widely locally consumed rice (pawsan) increased by 17 percent. Relative to September 2020, national-level food price inflation in September 2021 stood at 11 percent. Inflation was highest in the Hills and Mountains areas (15 percent). Households in the poorest quintile were affected by food price inflation more than those in the richest while rural areas (12 percent) were exposed to almost twice the level of food inflation compared to urban areas (6 percent). Food availability is seemingly not a challenge at the national level in September 2021. Food vendors report that availability of most commodities is comparable to the same period in a normal year. However, there are increasing trade frictions with higher transportation costs and more frequent mobility issues due to lockdowns and insecurity problems. COVID-19 prevention measures were widely practiced by market vendors in 2020. While they had been abandoned by a substantial share of vendors surveyed in the middle of the year, these prevention measures were again widely adhered to in September 2021.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Food vendors December 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Research Note presents the results from a telephone survey with food vendors conducted in rural and urban zones throughout Myanmar and focuses on the results from the latest round completed in December 2021. The purpose of the survey is to provide data and insights to interested stakeholders in order that they better understand the effects of shocks related to COVID-19 and the ongoing political crisis on Myanmar’s food markets. In particular, the note explores COVID-19 prevention measures, changes in shopping behavior, difficulties in food vendor operations due to the COVID-19 and political crises, changes in availability and prices of foods, and perceived changes in consumption.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Agricultural commodity traders May 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand how Myanmar’s crop marketing system has been affected by political instability, phone interviews were conducted in May with 78 agricultural commodity traders. Key Findings: Although there have been modest improvements since the previous survey in March 2021, disruptions to transportation, payments, credit, and telecommunications are still widespread, with 94 percent of interviewed traders in May experiencing at least one business disruption. Credit for trading operations is a much more frequently cited difficulty compared to a year ago. Forty percent of traders reported challenges obtaining new credit or loans in May 2021 and 37 percent reported difficulties repaying loans, compared to just 15 percent and 10 percent in May 2020, respectively. Although credit demand increased, there has been a decline in credit provision to farmers. The share of traders offering credit dropped by 18 percentage points in May 2021 compared to May 2020, and the average value of credit lent by traders still lending is 30 percent lower. Unwillingness to lend may be related to increased difficulties in loan recovery–48 percent of traders experienced difficulties collecting repayment on credit lent to farmers in May 2021 compared to 27 percent in May 2020. There has been a dramatic reduction in adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures compared to the same period a year ago, despite the third wave of the pandemic underway and the presence of new and more contagious variants. Cash payments have become increasingly dominant for purchases and sales as bank transfers and mobile payments are rarely being used. The use of the Hundi system has also decreased in recent months. Crop volumes traded are down 12 percent compared to a year ago and sesame prices have dropped by one-third their value.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Agricultural crop traders September 2021 survey written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-10-29 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the effects of COVID-19 and political instability on Myanmar’s crop trade sector, a phone survey of commodity traders was conducted in September 2021. Key Findings The most significant disruptions to crop trading in September were in banking and transportation. Sixty percent of respondents reported higher transportation costs and 47 percent reported difficulties making and receiving payments for crops, respectively. Sixty-one percent of traders reported difficulties collecting repayment from farmers on credit lent out. Although over half the sample offered credit to farmers in the 2021 monsoon season, there was an 8 percent decline relative to the 2020 monsoon season. Overall, 82 percent of the credit lent to farmers has not yet been repaid and 37 percent of traders do not expect full repayment before the 2022 monsoon season. There was also a 9 percent decline in the share of traders taking credit in during the 2021 monsoon season (15 percent) relative to 2020 (24 percent) and 44 percent of the traders taking credit do not expect to fully repay these debts before the 2022 monsoon season. Sixty-three percent of traders reported lower overall trade volumes in September 2021 relative to the same time in 2020. For the main crop traded, average daily turnover was down by 5 percent and storage volumes were down by 6 percent. Hired transportation costs increased by an average of 23 percent relative to September 2020 and 56 percent of traders reported fewer trips to buy crops. Looking ahead If these hurdles persist into the monsoon marketing season, they will present challenges to farmers as they try to sell their harvests. Indeed, there are already signs of reduced marketing opportunities in September going into the harvest season. Removal of curfews and travel restrictions at each administrative level would lessen some of the marketing challenges. Delayed repayment of farmer credit combined with a heavy dependency on cash for transactions may lead to a cycle of reduced credit to farmers for winter and summer seasons.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Maize farmers Monsoon season phone surveys written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-10-29 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the effects of recent economic and political disruptions on Myanmar’s maize farmers during the monsoon season, we conducted two telephone surveys with 1,178 farmers in July and September 2021. Key Findings There were widespread disruptions throughout the 2021 monsoon season: 11 percent of respondents were displaced by violence in July, and most farmers had had enforced transportation restrictions in their village tracts (58 percent) and their townships (84 percent). Seventy percent of farmers expect these restrictions to affect their monsoon marketing. Two-thirds of respondents received farm credit for inputs in the 2021 monsoon season, an increase of 3 percentage points relative to 2020, and average credit values increased slightly. Most credit was provided by traders (27 percent receiving), which may be unique to maize production as there are broader credit declines in other parts of the country and maize prices have increased in 2021. Additionally, exports to Thailand have been robust. High fertilizer prices will likely lead to a decline in application rates as 63 percent of farmers reported reduced input use, which will negatively affect yields. Median maize farm sizes fell by one acre in 2021 relative to 2020, though average maize acreages were stable. Pest incidence rates (72 percent reporting problems), especially for fall armyworm (45 percent), were high in July, posing another threat to production. There was a decline in access to formal extension services, particularly for information provided by input companies and government extension agents. Farmers increasingly turned to neighbors for agricultural advice.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Rice millers April 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rice mills are the most important link in Myanmar’s rice value chain. Mills buy paddy from farmers and process it into rice, the primary staple of Myanmar accounting for more than 50 percent of calories consumed in the country. Thus, disruptions to the milling sector have important upstream implications for farm incomes as well as downstream implications for household food security. In this Research Note, we present results and analysis of recent economic disruptions to rice mills from an April 2021 round of a telephone panel survey of 445 millers in Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon. We examine (i) disruptions caused by the current political and COVID-19 crises; (ii) responses to these disruptions; and (iii) and price changes for paddy, head rice, broken rice, and rice bran in April 2021 relative to April 2020 and to January 2021, prior to the political crisis that began on 1 February.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Mechanization service providers June 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-07-28 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanization service providers (MSPs) in Myanmar were originally interviewed by phone in the summer and fall of 2020. The phone surveys covered combine harvester SPs (CHSPs) and tractor SPs (TSPs) to determine how their businesses were affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 07, 12, 17, 39, and 43, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current political and social conditions on their economic activities, a sixth phone survey of MSPs was conducted in early June 2021. This Research Note reports on the results of the sixth survey as well as on trends from earlier surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Mechanization service providers July 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-09-17 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanization service providers (MSPs) in Myanmar were originally interviewed by telephone in summer 2020, fall 2020, and June 2021, covering mostly combine-harvester service providers (CHSPs) and tractor service providers (TSPs), to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions and political instability. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 07, 12, 17, 39, 43 and 59 respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the current political and social conditions on their economic activities, a seventh phone survey of MSPs was conducted in late July 2021. This note reports on the results of the seventh survey as well as on some trends from earlier surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Agricultural input retailers September 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the effects of COVID-19 and political instability on Myanmar’s agricultural input sector, a phone survey of 123 input retailers throughout the country was conducted in September 2021. Key findings: Input prices, especially fertilizer, have soared compared to a year ago due to a combination of higher international prices, depreciation of the Myanmar Kyat, and higher freight and domestic transport costs. Faced with price increases of 76 percent on average for compound fertilizer and 132 percent for urea (compared to a year ago), farmers reduced their purchases by 38 percent and 42 percent, respectively. If the decline in fertilizer sales is extended to all of Myanmar, estimated monsoon crop production may fall by 8 percent to 12 percent, equivalent to between $670 million and $1 billion at 2017 prices. Recommendations: The post-monsoon cropping season will be an important opportunity to partially compensate for lower monsoon season production. There is no indication that international fertilizer prices will fall significantly before planting time, however. A combination of temporary fertilizer subsidies and expanded seasonal credit will likely be necessary to encourage farmers to increase crop production.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar The rising costs of healthy diets December 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Research Note presents the results from ten rounds of a telephone survey with food vendors conducted in rural and urban zones throughout Myanmar and focuses on the results from the latest round completed in December 2021. The purpose of the survey is to provide data and insights on Myanmar’s food markets to interested stakeholders to foster better understanding of the effects of shocks related to COVID-19 and the ongoing political crisis. In particular, the note explores changes in food prices and their impact on the cost of common and healthy diets.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Mechanization service providers January 2022 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-02-25 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A phone survey was conducted in January 2022 to understand the effects of COVID-19 and political instability on Myanmar’s mechanization service providers (MSPs), crucial to enabling smallholder farmers to undertake a range of power-intensive farm and post-harvest operations in a timely manner. This note reports on the results of this survey, the eighth in a series of phone surveys, as well as on trends from earlier surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Rice millers November 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rice mills are the primary link in the rice value chain between farmers and consumers. Therefore, it is critical to monitor milling shocks as they will affect both farmers' incomes and urban rice prices. Since June 2020, we have monitored the impact of COVID-19 and political instability on rice millers in Myanmar and this is the tenth Research Note in the series. In this Research Note, we present evidence from interviews with 392 rice millers conducted in November 2021 in Myanmar’s three major rice-growing regions–Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon. We present evidence of the current situation in relation to previous survey rounds, including 1) disruptions in milling caused by the political and health crises; 2) changes in operations such as throughput, paddy and rice storage, and working capital; 3) reasons for expected throughput changes in the 2021 monsoon harvest season; and 4) prices of paddy, rice, and byproducts.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Food vendors March 2022 written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Research Note presents the results of recent interviews with food vendors in rural and urban areas and in all state/regions of Myanmar as a part of the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS) telephone survey (MAPSA 2022a). The purpose of the food vendor component of the MHWS is to provide data and insights to interested stakeholders in order that they better understand the effects of shocks related to COVID-19 and the ongoing political crisis on Myanmar’s food markets. In particular, the note explores (nominal) prices of foods and difficulties in food vendor operations due to the COVID-19 and political crises.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Mechanization service providers July 2023 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-09-18 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A phone survey was conducted in July 2023 to understand the effects of political instability on Myanmar’s mechanization service providers (MSPs) that are crucial for enabling smallholder farmers to undertake a range of power-intensive farm and post-harvest operations in a timely manner. This note reports on the results of this survey, which is the 11th in a series of phone surveys, as well as on trends from earlier surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar Agricultural input retailers June 2021 survey round written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-07-07 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the effects of recent disruptions on Myanmar’s agricultural input sector, a phone survey of input retailers was conducted in June 2021. Key findings: ▪ Prices of key agricultural inputs–fertilizer, pesticides, maize seed, and vegetable seed– are higher in June 2021 compared to June 2020 during the first wave of COVID-19. Onaverage, urea fertilizer prices are 52 percent higher and compound fertilizer prices are 29 percent higher. ▪ Reported input sales are much lower in June 2021 than in June 2020, with fertilizer sales volumes 48 percent lower on average and maize seed 39 percent lower on average. ▪ There continue to be widespread business disruptions stemming from political instability. Issues in the banking sector are the biggest disruption for 75 percent of our sample, though 84 percent also reported higher transportation costs. ▪ Nearly two-thirds of interviewed input retailers have offered inputs on credit to farmers this monsoon season. However, 79 percent intend to decrease their total value of credit compared to last year. Only 22 percent of input retailers reported that farmers in their area received MADB loans for the 2021 monsoon season. ▪ During the third wave of COVID-19 in Myanmar, adoption of safety practices is much lower than during the first wave. Sixty percent of input retailers adopted at least one practice, but only 44 percent were regularly washing their hands and only 47 percent were wearing masks. ▪ Higher input costs and lower access to credit will likely result in lower purchased input use and lower yields for monsoon crops. Measures to support combine harvesting and post-harvest management (e.g., drying) could help minimize further yield loss.