4.2. The Long Game
In order to match the impressive agricultural performance of its regional peers, Myanmar will need to undertake a series of key institutional and policy reforms. Currently, Myanmar invests only 20% as much in agricultural research (per $100 in agricultural output) as its regional counterparts. Not only will Myanmar need to substantially boost the resources it allocates to agriculture, it will also need to restructure its line ministries and departments in order to better support the core public goods and services that drive productivity growth in agriculture. Many decades of socialist command and control systems have left a legacy of over-staffed departments designed to supervise and control farmer decisions. Yet service-oriented systems for listening to farmers, diagnosing problems and finding practical, scientific solutions have atrophied.
MOAI has taken several important steps in this direction in the past year, most notably by authorizing the hiring of 700 additional extension officers, adding a horticulture department in DOA to promote crop diversification, elevating plant protection efforts to departmental status, selling off ministry-owned industrial crop processing enterprises and restructuring public support to focus on research, development and extension in a newly structured Department of Industrial Crops Development (DICD). Continuing institutional reforms can build on these initial efforts. Movement towards a highly productive, competitive, broad-based agricultural growth trajectory will require a further restructuring of agricultural support institutions in the three key areas. First
are the public goods that drive broad-based agricultural productivity growth:
• agricultural research, through the creation of a market-oriented, farmer-centered research system,
• extension system modernization and reform,
• agricultural education,
• irrigation and improved water management systems,
• land administration and access,
• deepening of rural financial systems,
•improved rural communications and transport,
• support for farmer-based organizations and
• a transparent, predictable policy environment, particularly in areas governing land use decisions, input quality and cross-border trade.
Second is an accurate, objective statistical data collection and dissemination system. Currently, few stakeholders express confidence in Myanmar’s official production statistics -- even for rice, where alternate estimates differ by as much as 50% .
Yet transparent, effective policies require a firm empirical grounding, as do private sector investment decisions. As part of an overall effort to improve agricultural data, MOAI’s detailed cadastral map library could quickly be digitized, geo-referenced and combined with best practice survey methods to lower data collection costs, increase speed and improve precision, early warning and forecasting capacity. Third, is a long-range reengineering of the organization and funding for education, health and nutrition institutions that promote long-term human capital formation among rural children, particularly the children of landless households and other disadvantaged groups.
To successfully implement a restructuring of agricultural support institutions there is an urgent need for investment in graduate training in a wide range of technical and social sciences. For example, not only is the number of scientists in the agricultural research system very small, but many experienced researchers are approaching retirement. In some technical areas, such as soil and water management, post-harvest technology, and policy analysis, there is almost a complete gap. Formal graduate training should be complemented by exchange visits to see how other countries in the region are tackling the challenges facing Myanmar.
4.2. The Long Game
In order to match the impressive agricultural performance of its regional peers, Myanmar will need to undertake a series of key institutional and policy reforms. Currently, Myanmar invests only 20% as much in agricultural research (per $100 in agricultural output) as its regional counterparts. Not only will Myanmar need to substantially boost the resources it allocates to agriculture, it will also need to restructure its line ministries and departments in order to better support the core public goods and services that drive productivity growth in agriculture. Many decades of socialist command and control systems have left a legacy of over-staffed departments designed to supervise and control farmer decisions. Yet service-oriented systems for listening to farmers, diagnosing problems and finding practical, scientific solutions have atrophied.
MOAI has taken several important steps in this direction in the past year, most notably by authorizing the hiring of 700 additional extension officers, adding a horticulture department in DOA to promote crop diversification, elevating plant protection efforts to departmental status, selling off ministry-owned industrial crop processing enterprises and restructuring public support to focus on research, development and extension in a newly structured Department of Industrial Crops Development (DICD). Continuing institutional reforms can build on these initial efforts. Movement towards a highly productive, competitive, broad-based agricultural growth trajectory will require a further restructuring of agricultural support institutions in the three key areas. First
are the public goods that drive broad-based agricultural productivity growth:
• agricultural research, through the creation of a market-oriented, farmer-centered research system,
• extension system modernization and reform,
• agricultural education,
• irrigation and improved water management systems,
• land administration and access,
• deepening of rural financial systems,
•improved rural communications and transport,
• support for farmer-based organizations and
• a transparent, predictable policy environment, particularly in areas governing land use decisions, input quality and cross-border trade.
Second is an accurate, objective statistical data collection and dissemination system. Currently, few stakeholders express confidence in Myanmar’s official production statistics -- even for rice, where alternate estimates differ by as much as 50% .
Yet transparent, effective policies require a firm empirical grounding, as do private sector investment decisions. As part of an overall effort to improve agricultural data, MOAI’s detailed cadastral map library could quickly be digitized, geo-referenced and combined with best practice survey methods to lower data collection costs, increase speed and improve precision, early warning and forecasting capacity. Third, is a long-range reengineering of the organization and funding for education, health and nutrition institutions that promote long-term human capital formation among rural children, particularly the children of landless households and other disadvantaged groups.
To successfully implement a restructuring of agricultural support institutions there is an urgent need for investment in graduate training in a wide range of technical and social sciences. For example, not only is the number of scientists in the agricultural research system very small, but many experienced researchers are approaching retirement. In some technical areas, such as soil and water management, post-harvest technology, and policy analysis, there is almost a complete gap. Formal graduate training should be complemented by exchange visits to see how other countries in the region are tackling the challenges facing Myanmar.
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