35% of rural people in Myanmar depend on loans to buy food: research

35% of rural people in Myanmar depend on loans to buy food: research

Published on Monday, 24 June 2013 02:08

A scene at Kyaytaw Pitesate Village in Sittway Township, Rakhine (Photo - EMG)

Thirty-five percent of the rural people in Myanmar have to seek loans all year round to buy food while half of the rural populace faces food insecurity at least two months out of a year, according to a research by Michigan State University and Myanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI).

Myanmar has a population of over 60 million in Myanmar, about 70 percent are living in rural areas. According to data collected by Michigan State University and MDRI, family experiencing poverty and food problemst tends to be landless households, which accounts for half of the rural population. They have become victims of unfair allocation of land, climate change, poor agricultural management during increasingly untimely rainfalls, high transport cost, and rural monetary organizations' lack of capability to assist their needs.

New unexpected and irregular polices of the government, low investments from the private sector in the agricultural research and a lack of strong relationship between agricultural education centres and farmers are some of the challenges that added to the problem of the rural people.

Although Myanmar is said to have 26 percent poverty rate, the figure could get even worse, Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann once said.

According to Dr Steven Haggblade from Michigan State University, the government is providing microfinance services to reduce the poverty rate. But that can cause a heavier burden on the farmers and growers, allowing them to face more interest. 

The paper highlighted the importance role of rural education and the need to nurture agriculturalists because 80 percent of students living in the rural areas usually drop out.

Myanmar, the poorest country in the Southeast Asia, has reduced its poverty rate from 32 percent to 26 percent but it is still high considering the nation as a whole. 

The poverty rate in the rural areas is two times higher than that in the urban areas, accounting for 80 percent of the total population's poverty rate.

The largest number of poor households is concentrated in the states of Chin, Rakhine and Shan while the poverty rate is getting high in the populous regions of Ayeyawady and Mandalay, according to the framework on economic and social change.

The new government is working hard to reduce the country's poverty rate and a national level seminar on rural development and poverty alleviation took place in May, 2012.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/06/24/35-of-rural-people-in-myanmar-depend-on-loans-to-buy-food-research/