Download or read book Monitoring the impacts of COVID 19 in Myanmar Food vendors June and July 2020 survey round written by Minten, Bart and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is feared that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to widespread increases in global poverty and food insecurity and that these negative impacts will concentrate on the most vulnerable segments of the population (Swinnen and McDermott 2020). Although Myanmar, with one of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the world, has been spared the worst direct impacts of the disease, its economy remains highly vulnerable to the economic fallout of the contagion. A major contributor to increased food insecurity in Myanmar is the reduction of income among vulnerable populations (Diao et al. 2020), partly due to significant declines in remittances in the country (Diao and Wang 2020). In addition, disruptions to food marketing systems and changes in farm and consumer prices could also turn out to be major drivers of food insecurity. Changes in food markets – including supply of commodities and transport - and food and agricultural prices are an obvious concern to policy makers, given the importance of agricultural prices for the income of farmers and food prices for the purchasing power of consumers.

Download or read book Monitoring the impacts of COVID 19 in Myanmar Food vendors November 2020 survey round written by Oo, Than Zaw and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-12-17 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This policy note presents results from five rounds of a telephone survey with food vendors conducted in different rural and urban zones of the country, focusing on results from the last round completed. The purpose of the survey is to provide data and insights to the government, development partners, and interested stakeholders to understand the COVID-19 related shocks on Myanmar’s food markets. In particular, the note explores prevention measures, changes in shopping behavior, difficulties in food vendor operations due to the COVID-19 crisis, changes in availability and prices of foods, perceived changes in consumption, and suggested policy actions by these food vendors.

Download or read book Impacts of COVID 19 on Myanmar s agri food system Evidence base and policy implications written by Researchers of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-10-09 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between April and October 2020, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Michigan State University (MSU), with support from the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) and the Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT), have undertaken analyses of secondary data combined with regular telephone surveys of actors at all stages of Myanmar’s agri-food system in order to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the system. These analyses show that the volume of agribusiness has slowed considerably in Myanmar since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. There is lower demand from farmers for agricultural inputs and mechanization services and lower volumes of produce traded, especially exports to neighboring countries whose borders are closed. All actors in the agri-food system are facing liquidity constraints and experiencing increased difficulties in both borrowing and recovering loans.

Download or read book Community perceptions of the social and economic impacts of COVID 19 in Myanmar Insights from a National COVID 19 Community Survey NCCS June and July 2020 written by Lambrecht, Isabel and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myanmar has been fortunate in thus far having one of the lowest caseloads of COVID-19 per population globally, with under 400 confirmed cases as of early August. However, as a developing economy still beset by high rates of poverty and vulnerability, Myanmar is highly susceptible to the economic and social disruptions stemming from COVID-19. These disruptions began with the closure of the Chinese border and the cessation of agricultural exports in late January, followed in February and March by further disruptions to trade, tourism, manufacturing, and remittances. However, an economic simulation analysis by Diao et al. (2020) suggests that the most severe economic impacts of COVID-19 stemmed from the temporary lockdown policies imposed in late March, which – though necessary to prevent the further spread of the virus – led to significant disruptions throughout the economy, including the agri-food sector and the rural economy. Phone survey evidence on agricultural and industrial value chains demonstrates that economic disruptions related to COVID-19 are pervasive and significant (Fang et al, 2020; Goeb, Boughton, and Maredia 2020; Goeb et al. 2020, Takeshima, Win, and Masias 2020a, 2020b). In aggregate, economic simulations predict a modest contraction in Myanmar’s gross domestic product in 2020 (compared to rapid growth forecasted in the absence of COVID-19), but a more significant reduction in household incomes at around 12 percent on average.

Download or read book Monitoring the agri food system in Myanmar The rising costs of diets and declining purchasing power of casual wage laborers June 2020 February 2023 written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-04-24 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We assess changes in food prices and purchasing power of casual wage laborers based on large-scale surveys of food vendors (fielded from June 2020 until February 2023) and households in rural and urban areas and in all state/regions of Myanmar. Key findings  Over the full period (June 2020 - February 2023), the cost of the healthy diet rose by 72 percent and the common diet by 82 percent.  Prices for rice –the major staple– increased by 62 percent between March 2022 and February 2023.  The costs of a common and healthy diet increased especially over the year 2022, by 50 and 51 percent respectively between Q1 of 2022 and Q4 of 2022.  Diet costs increased more in rural areas compared to urban areas and more in the Dry Zone and coastal areas – which are more affected by conflicts – compared to the national average.  The value of daily wages of construction and agricultural wage laborers relative to common and healthy diet costs declined by about 25 and 28 percent over the year 2022.  Food costs are outpacing wages, making food increasingly unaffordable for wage earners who are among the most vulnerable household groups in Myanmar, particularly in rural areas. Recommended actions  Food should be available at low costs to avoid food insecurity and nutrition problems in the country; assuring a well-functioning agri-food system should therefore be a priority for all stakeholders.  Casual wage workers are among the poorest and their situation is worsening. They should therefore be targeted in social safety net programs.  It is important to closely monitor food prices and the wages of the poor - they are good proxies for purchasing power and welfare and can be measured at high frequency.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Urban food retailers Early July 2020 survey round written by Masias, Ian and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-08-27 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional family owned retail shops are the backbone of Myanmar’s consumer market. As the final node in the grocery supply chain, they sell all types of dry foods, i.e., processed and packaged, condiments, snacks, and beverages to final consumers. To some extent, they also supply basic staple grains, i.e., rice and pulses; dairy products; eggs; kitchen crops; and tobacco and alcohol. About 85 percent of all consumer goods in Myanmar are sold through these shops. In the food and grocery sector, these retail outlets, including wet markets, account for 90 percent of all sales, with the other 10 percent accounted for by fast-growing supermarkets. Because of the importance of traditional retail outlets in the last mile delivery of a wide variety of foods to consumers, any challenges they encounter from the COVID-19 crisis and corresponding policy responses to contain the virus have important implications for the availability and affordability of food for final consumers. This policy note is the first in a series of reports presenting results from rounds of a telephone survey of a sample of owners or managers of food retail shops located in the two largest cities in Myanmar, Yangon and Mandalay. The phone surveys are designed to provide a better understanding of the effects of COVID-19 shocks on Myanmar’s agri-food marketing system through the perspective of small-scale food retailers in urban areas. This policy note focuses on the demand side and overall business effects of the COVID-19 crisis on these food retailers. Phone interviews were conducted with 426 retail shop owners or managers between 8 and 15 July 2020. Eighty percent of those surveyed were in Yangon, with the rest in Mandalay.

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 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 impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Agricultural input retailers Mid June and early July 2020 survey rounds written by Goeb, Joseph and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-08-24 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phone surveys were conducted with input retailers from Shan, Kachin, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Sagaing, and Mandalay between 17 and 20 June and again between 6 and 8 July 2020 to understand and monitor the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural input sector.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Urban food retailers Late July 2020 survey round written by Maredia, Mywish K. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second policy note in a series presenting results from rounds of a telephone survey of a sample of retail food shop owners or managers located in two cities in Myanmar – Yangon, the economic center of the country with 4.4 million inhabitants, and Mandalay, the second largest city with 1.1 million inhabitants. The phone surveys are designed to better understand the effects of COVID-19 shocks on Myanmar’s agri-food marketing system from the perspective of these smallscale urban food retailers. Their shops are an important outlet for final consumers to purchase a variety of consumer goods, including many types of processed and packaged dry foods, condiments, snacks, beverages, basic staple grains (i.e., rice and pulses), dairy products, eggs, kitchen crops, tobacco, and alcohol products. The COVID-19 economic crisis could bring dramatic changes to these retailers – not only on the demand side in terms of the food purchasing behaviors of consumers, but also on the supply side in terms of how the food supply chains upon which they rely function and how they respond to these changes. This policy note builds on the analysis of the firstround of the survey, which focused on the demand side and overall business effects of COVID-19, by adding detailed questions on three additional themes – supplier options, credit extended and received by retailers, and the use of modern technologies and practices.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Agricultural input retailers Synopsis of results from five survey rounds through late July 2020 written by Goeb, Joseph and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural input retailers play a key role in Myanmar’s agri-food system by supplying farmers with fertilizer, seed, pesticides, and other inputs necessary for successful harvests. Because farm-level input use is an important driver of yields for all major food crops, shocks from the COVID-19 crisis to the input retail sector have major implications for rural household welfare as well as food security. In this policy note, we present results and analysis on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on agricultural input retailers from a five-round telephone panel survey of between 150 and 200 retailers in Shan, Kachin, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Sagaing, and Mandalay that was implemented every two weeks from mid-May to late July 2020. 1 The objective of this survey was to provide data and insights to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation (MOALI) and agricultural sector stakeholders so that they better understand the nature of COVID-19 related shocks to Myanmar’s agricultural input retailers. Previous policy notes2 mostly focused on the survey rounds individually, tracking the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on agricultural input retailers as they were happening. In this note, we take a more comprehensive approach by looking back over all five survey rounds to understand how the effects of the COVID-19 crisis evolved over time. In particular, this note presents results from May 2020 through July 2020 across the five survey rounds on (i) disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis, (ii) responses to these disruptions, (iii) sales of fertilizer, maize seed, vegetable seed, and pesticides, and (iv) input retailers’ employees and hired labor.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Mechanization service providers November 2020 survey round written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanization service providers (MSP) in Myanmar were originally surveyed by telephone over three rounds in May, June, and July 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. Most of the MSPs interviewed were engaged in providing farmers with tractor-related services. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 07, 12, and 17, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a fourth round of the survey of MSPs was done in early-November 2020, administered mostly to those engaged in harvesting activities. This note reports on the results of the fourth survey, as well as some trends seen between the earlier survey rounds and this last one.

Download or read book Monitoring the Impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes August 2020 survey round written by Lambrecht, Isabel and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This policy note provides evidence of the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on farming communities in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone using baseline data from January 2020 (BL) and followup telephone survey data. 1 The first round of the telephone survey was conducted with 606 households between 10 and 21 June 2020 (PS1) and inquired about the effects of COVID-19 on agricultural production and other livelihood sources from February to May 2020. The second round effects of COVID-19 in June and July.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Mechanization service providers July 2020 survey round written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-07-31 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanization service providers in Myanmar were originally interviewed by telephone in May 2020 and again in June 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 07 and 12, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a third phone survey of mechanization service providers was done in early-July 2020. This Note reports on the results of the third survey, as well as some trends since the first and the second surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Yangon peri urban poultry farmers August 2020 survey round written by Fang, Peixun and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-09-10 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poultry farmers in Myanmar were interviewed by telephone in early June, late June, early July, and late July 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 11, 13, 19, and 21, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a fifth phone survey of poultry farmers was done in August 2020. The fifth survey included 228 poultry farmers (163 broiler and 65 layer farms) in the Yangon peri-urban area (Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon regions) who had been interviewed in the first four rounds of the survey. The same survey questionnaire was used. Because this survey round is about two months after the early June survey round, which is the length of a full broiler production cycle, we again asked questions in this round about the last complete broiler production cycle. This Policy Note reports on the results of this fifth survey round.

Download or read book Monitoring the impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Mechanization service providers December 2020 survey round written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-01-27 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanization service providers (MSP) in Myanmar were originally interviewed by telephone in May, June, July, and November 2020, covering mostly combine-harvester SPs (CHSP) and tractor SPs (TSP), to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 07, 12, 17, and 39, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a fifth phone survey of MSPs was done in mid-December 2020, administered mostly to SPs in harvesting activities. This Note reports on the results of the fifth survey, as well as on some trends from the earlier surveys.

Download or read book Monitoring the Impact of COVID 19 in Myanmar Agricultural Equipment Retailers July 2020 survey round written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural equipment retailers (ER) in Myanmar were originally interviewed by telephone in May 2020 and again in June 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 09 and 16, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a third phone survey of ERs was done in July 2020. This Note reports on the results of this third survey, as well as changes in the businesses of agricultural equipment retailers since the first and the second surveys.