A regional perspective on poverty in Myanmar - United Nations ...

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Poverty in Myanmar 48 Land holding Underemployment gap Losses from calamities Poverty incidence 10 8 6 4 2 0 Poverty decline Poverty gap PPI Loans Poverty inertia Utilities share Food share Inequality Shan (South) Land holding Underemployment gap Losses from calamities Poverty incidence 10 8 6 4 2 0 Poverty decline Poverty gap PPI Loans Poverty inertia Utilities share Food share Inequality 27 Shan State is Myanmar’s largest and does therefore also show strong intra-<strong>regional</strong> disparities. Poverty is above national average in the East and North, but below in the South. It decline everywhere about average, but the poverty gap is particularly high in the North, and rather low, again, in the South. The purchase power favours the State as a whole, as goods and services, measured at the national consumption basket, are comparatively cheaper. Poverty inertia is all over the State comparatively high, meaning above average chronic poverty, explicable by the remoteness of most of the State. Finally, within the poverty pillar, inequality is very low in East and South, but above national average in the North. The favourable PPI is reflected in the below average share for food expenditures, although Shan East suffers the highest rice price in the Union, and Shan North and South are not far behind. Potentially, rice is partially substituted by potato where Shan has the lowest price. But the expenditure share for 27 This chapter’s recommendations draw on the work of U San Thein
Poverty in Myanmar 49 utilities diverts especially between North and South, where it is low in the former and high in the latter. The low share in the North might however also be explicable by low opportunity. A serious problem for all parts of the State is the over-indebtedness of the poor. This overindebtedness might also explain the comparatively high inertia, and will certainly lead to long-term structural problems of poverty. In terms of poverty alleviation and reduction, the Government should see this as a priority to tackle, through the conversion of existing informal high interest loans into formal loans with lower interest rate. Notably, South Shan, where UNDP/PACT’s micro finance programme is active, has the lowest over-indebtedness of all parts. This might be coincidental and unrelated, but it might also have some causal relation. The median size of the poor’s landholding is everywhere below average, and in the East strongly below. Communal systems have their role to play, but for modern agricultural development such small landholdings are in growth and poverty-reduction inhibitor. Sufficient and sustainable income can only be generated if the farmers do either switch to higher, yet also more risky, value products, if they increase the effective landholdings through functioning cooperation, or if they let market forces allocate the land through lease or even transfer systems. But as in the case of Chin, a low median land size goes hand in hand with Myanmar’s lowest rate of landlessness. From the viewpoint of calamities, Shan State is promising, as losses are small. Being a large State, Shan has diverse potentials for the development of competitive resource based industries. Shan (especially Shan South) has a revealed competitive advantage in soybean production. Its development requires varietal improvement, followed by improvement in the agronomic techniques. Soybean based industries can follow immediately: soybean meal, e.g., is much in need in the fishing industry of Ayeyarwady and other aquaculture based S/R. Southern Shan also has a revealed competitive advantage in potato production, and is by far the largest potato producer in Myanmar (58% of the total). But the productivity is not uniform across Shan: the yield in the Northern and Eastern parts is significantly below national average. And in unfavourable weather conditions, potato crops often suffer from pests: for larger scale commercialisation, more resistant varieties need to be developed, e.g. by the Yezin Agriculture University, and introduced to the farmers. Maize is another promising crop, especially for the animal feed industry. Markets are not only in Shan itself, but especially in more livestock oriented S/R located in the dry zone. For its introduction, the systems introduced by the Thi CP group could be replicated. The maize cobs -waste products of maize- could be turned into biofuel, thus reducing electricity shortages. Vegetable of the Aungban and Pindaya areas appear to have a large demand in Korea, Japan and other ASEAN countries. Pineapple and associated juice industries could be located in Kyauk area. Turning to plantation crops, tea is probably the most important. It has been an important product in the past, but the plantations (especially in Namsan/Kyaunme) require a multi-dimensional approach for rehabilitation: unproductive tea plants need to be replaced, and planting and management techniques need to be improved and possibly organic tea introduced. As it may take 10 years to restore the plantations, this is a very long term project requiring long term soft loans and efforts. Also the payment systems for both, the tea pickers as well as the sale of tea needs to be adjusted to
Page 1 and 2: A regional <strong
Page 3 and 4: Poverty in Myanmar 3 Mandalay......
Page 5 and 6: Poverty in Myanmar 5 electricity an
Page 7 and 8: Count Poverty in Myanmar 7 The stat
Page 9 and 10: Poverty in Myanmar 9 Figure 4: Pove
Page 11 and 12: Poverty in Myanmar 11 Mother tongue
Page 13 and 14: Poverty in Myanmar 13 Figure 6: Pov
Page 15 and 16: Poverty in Myanmar 15 From purely f
Page 17 and 18: Poverty in Myanmar 17 Figure 14: Gr
Page 19 and 20: Poverty in Myanmar 19 Table 10: Ave
Page 21 and 22: Poverty in Myanmar 21 Table 11: Tra
Page 23 and 24: Poverty in Myanmar 23 among male: o
Page 25 and 26: Poverty in Myanmar 25 All household
Page 27 and 28: Poverty in Myanmar 27 Table 16: Mos
Page 29 and 30: Poverty in Myanmar 29 Conclusion: p
Page 31 and 32: Poverty in Myanmar 31 Second Part D
Page 33 and 34: Poverty in Myanmar 33 The poverty i
Page 35 and 36: Poverty in Myanmar 35 One of the st
Page 37 and 38: Poverty in Myanmar 37 Bago (West) L
Page 39 and 40: Poverty in Myanmar 39 Chin Land hol
Page 41 and 42: Poverty in Myanmar 41 Magway Land h
Page 43 and 44: Poverty in Myanmar 43 Mandalay Land
Page 45 and 46: Poverty in Myanmar 45 Mon Land hold
Page 47: Poverty in Myanmar 47 Shan Shan Lan
Page 51: Poverty in Myanmar 51 Final remarks

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