Abstract
This chapter explores how agriculture and rural villages are positioned in the Myanmar national economy. Using macroeconomic statistics, such as the statistical yearbook, monthly statistical indicators, agricultural statistics, population and housing censuses , and internal data of the Ministry of Agriculture, I argue that: (1) the position of agriculture in the national accounts has been declining; (2) agricultural income is remarkably low; (3) the importance of rice is declining, despite Myanmar being often referred to as a rice-producing country; and (4) there are doubts about the future potential of Myanmar’s agriculture. In addition, we find that there are surprisingly few farmers in rural Myanmar. These considerations will show the extent of de-agrarianisation at the national economic level.
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Notes
- 1.
Although not defining a “town”, the UN Statistics Division defines “urban” areas in Myanmar as areas classified by the General Administration Department as wards, which generally have an increased density of building structures, population and better infrastructure development (United Nations 2022: 125). Again, there is no mention of population size or population density, which are included in the definition of urban areas in many other countries.
- 2.
In this book, I define “non-farm households” as households that do not fit Chap. 2’s definition of a “farm household ”. Thus, a “non-farm household” would be a household where none of its members have “cultivation right”. Such non-farm households can be divided into: 1) “agricultural labourer households ”, whose livelihood comes mainly from members who are employed in agricultural hired labour; and 2) “non-agricultural households”, whose principal livelihood earners are not employed in agriculture, neither as self-employed farmers nor as agricultural labourers . Incidentally, all persons who are engaged in agriculture, whether as self-employed farmers or as hired labour, would be termed as “agricultural workers”.
- 3.
From 1948 to 1973, Myanmar’s fiscal year was from October to September. From 1974 to 2018, it was from April to March. From 2018 to 2021, the fiscal year was October to September. During the colonial period, the fiscal year was from October to September until the 1870s, and from April to March until independence in 1948.
- 4.
In English-style spelling, kâin is spelt kaing , ûyin is uyin , dànì is dani , and taunya is taungya.
- 5.
As mentioned, the socialist period was from March 1962 to September 1988, the military period then lasted until March 2011. Tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5 in this chapter show the data in 10-year increments starting from 1961/62. They do not include the data for 1988/89, when the transition from the socialist period to the military period took place. There are two reasons for this: (1) it is easier to compare the figures at equal intervals if the years are divided into 10-year increments, and (2) the reliability of the 1988/89 figures is questionable because of the political and administrative turmoil. Therefore, we consider the period from 1961/62 to 1991/92 as the socialist period, and the period from 1991/92 to 2011/12 as the military period. The period from 2011/12 to 2017/18 is regarded as the democratisation period. For Table 3.2, I could not find the data for the 1960s, so the table starts with data from the financial year 1970/71.
- 6.
Groundnut is also added to the category of “legumes” here because it belongs among Faboideae (subfamily) Arachis (genus), despite also belonging among oil crops.
- 7.
This figure is considerably less than the 2014 Population and Housing Census figure of about 7.83 million households. The reason for this is not that the number of rural households has suddenly increased in the last five years, but that the 2009 survey does not include peri-urban rural areas and remote rural areas.
- 8.
It has already been mentioned that the English name of the country was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, and the English names of provinces, towns and ethnic groups were also changed. In the same way, the English names of regions, towns, and ethnic groups were also revised. Karen was changed to Kayin, but since the Karen people continue to use the name Karen, the name Karen is used in this book as it was before the change.
- 9.
In the 1983 census , 96.1% of the workers in agriculture, and fisheries were employed in the agricultural sector, and only a small number in forestry and fisheries. 2014 census does not disclose such detail, but we assume that it is almost the same.
- 10.
The 1983 and 2014 Population Census reflect the population and households at midnight on March 31 and March 30, respectively. Therefore, the values for 1982/83 and 2013/14 were used for GDP; the agricultural sector accounted for 39.4% of GDP in 1982/83 and 19.7 % in 2013/14 (Takahashi 2016: 120).
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Takahashi, A. (2023). Agriculture and Rural Villages in the National Economy. In: Regime Changes and Socio-economic History of Rural Myanmar, 1986-2019. Studies in Economic History. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3272-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3272-6_3
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