Background
LIFT recognises that engaging the private sector is fundamental to achieving its strategic goals and contributing to poverty reduction in Myanmar.
The growing private sector in Myanmar is increasing the availability of resources, including financial services, to procure modern production technologies (improved seed, fertiliser, irrigation, small scale mechanisation) and technical knowledge of good agricultural practices.
LIFT supports the integration of smallholder farmers and businesses to 'step up' into “commercial” agriculture value chains across all four zones. LIFT’s work on inclusive value chains focuses on private sector partnerships that stimulate direct and indirect investments in smallholder agriculture. This is done mainly through contract farming models that give smallholder farmers access to quality agricultural inputs, efficient and competitively-driven financial services, reliable markets, and extension services that increase farmer knowledge.
In 2015, LIFT signed a number of private sector partnerships. In each of these projects, the objective is to demonstrate solutions for overcoming Myanmar’s challenges to competitiveness (e.g., its regulations; inadequate transportation, power and water infrastructure; and, the lack of quality upstream value chain actors).
LIFT's engagement with the private sector is equally beneficial for business, and this relationship is crucial to create sustainable gains and ultimately, an environment where assistance is no longer necessary.
LIFT's Approach
LIFT is a member of the executive committee of the Myanmar Agricultural Network (MAN), which is part of the Grow Asia partnership catalysed by the World Economic Forum and ASEAN. MAN represents forty businesses and organisations including the Myanmar government and both local and global companies and serves as a multi-stakeholder platform to accelerate investment in inclusive agriculture in Myanmar. LIFT is tightly aligned with MAN’s strategic objective—sustainable and inclusive agricultural growth.
MAN aims for a Myanmar 30:30 vision of generating USD 30 billion in agricultural output in Myanmar by 2030, with a particular emphasis on smallholder farmers. The MAN objective is to develop the agricultural sector in Myanmar and improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers through:
Increasing smallholder farmer productivity by enhancing access to knowledge, information, inputs and technology. The need for farmer training is specifically highlighted.
Increasing smallholder farmer profitability by providing access to finance, links to formal markets and stimulating investment in infrastructure.
Ensuring food safety and improving quality standards by helping smallholder farmers adhere to international and national standards, and access certification.
In 2015, MAN held two meetings with Myanmar’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation where there was open discussion regarding the challenges facing inclusive agricultural growth, including how to increase foreign and local investment in agriculture, and actions necessary to modernize agriculture.
LIFT works closely with the National Economic Social Advisory Council (NESAC) which is a member of the MAN executive committee. As an outgrowth of the close working relationships developed in the MAN, a working paper outlining key agriculture policy engagements is being drafted by NESAC, with the support of USAID and LIFT, to be discussed with the new government.
The key propositions in the paper (completed in April 2016) are as follows:
- In the past, Myanmar’s agricultural sector was driven by supply requirements. The future of the agri-food sector and agribusiness supply chain will be driven by the market, principally from Myanmar’s own consumers, but also from markets abroad.
- In the past, Myanmar’s agricultural supply requirements were defined by the government. The future of the agri-food sector and agribusiness supply chain will be led by small farmers and, more broadly, the private sector, both Myanmar and foreign. The government should provide support through transparent and accountable policy and regulatory frameworks and public investments that ensure core social and physical infrastructure as well as the quality, safety, and efficiency of agri-food systems and the products that are produced and consumed.
- In the past, policy governing Myanmar’s agricultural sector was narrowly focused on the production of crops. The future of the agri-food sector and agribusiness supply chain will be shaped through reliance on a three-pillar strategy that embraces open decision-making by small farmers, producing a wide range of agri-food products and supported by responsive input suppliers, productive technology, and knowledge and information service providers (all upstream) and reliable access to output markets and supply chains (downstream).
LIFT Projects
There are private sector projects associated with LIFT's new programmes for the Delta, Dry Zone and Uplands which will commence implementation shortly. In addition
Making Vegetable Markets Work For Smallholder Farmers In Southern Shan And Chin States
Beyond Recovery: Promotion Market-let, Pro-poor
Improved Food Security And Market Price Information System In Myanmar
Value Chain Development For Inclusive Economic Growth In Central Bogale
