30 ISSUE TWO 2017 PARTNERS BY CLEMENS GRÜNBÜHEL Asian Institute of Technology S ince the start of the project, Myanmar has experienced drastic social, economic and political change. In no other sphere have these changes been more visible than in rural areas, specifically, the areas in which we are working in the Ayeyarwady Delta and the central dry zone (CDZ). Myanmar is deeply reliant on agriculture: 70% of the population lives in rural areas. The majority of rural people engage in some form of agriculture, whether it is crop production, livestock husbandry or fisheries. Surveys found two basic types of livelihoods: landholders (56%) and landless (44%). The first group is titled ‘landholders’—not landowners—because there is an ongoing land titling process in Myanmar and a large number of farming households currently do not hold formal title to their land. FARMERS’ PERSPECTIVES As the central agricultural regions of the country, both the CDZ and the Ayeyarwady Delta have been going through a process of agricultural intensification, whether by mechanisation, access to irrigation, input or labour intensification. Among those surveyed, about 60% of landholding households have access to irrigation for their crop production and about 40% of the total sown area is irrigated across both regions. Cropping intensity is at nearly 150%. Farmers from irrigated areas say that with the introduction of short-duration rice varieties several crops per year became possible. This, in turn, has increased the demand for labour. FARM LABOUR “We can now grow more than one crop per year by using high-yield varieties, which have a short growing season. This should lead to more farm job opportunities for landless labour.”— survey respondent While demand for labour has been progressively increasing, farmers pointed out they RURAL CHANGES Changes in agricultural productivity are sweeping through Myanmar and care is needed to manage the effects on social structures and labour practices A salt farm on the southern tip of the Ayeyarwady Delta, Labutta township. What might have been rice paddies previously is now land used to produce salt as a form of extreme specialisation. Predominantly only absentee landlords with sufficient investment capital can afford to convert land into such an operation. PHOTOS: CLEMENS M. GRÜNBÜHEL