Agriculture is the leading employer in Myanmar’s economy, employing 60% of the country’s population. Out of 67.6 million hectares of land, 12.8 million hectares is cultivated.
Most agricultural activities in the country are still carried out manually, with low levels of mechanization. This results to low productivity and low agricultural outputs and, consequently, to low wages that leads to poverty among farmers.
Farmers in the country have little access to credit/loans from the government and therefore turn to private entities to borrow money to purchase seeds, pay for production, etc. These loans come with high interest rates that lead to indebtedness.
Furthermore, the effects of the long dictatorship in the country still lingers. Farmers still experience land confiscation, forced labor, and repression. Currently, many agricultural workers in Myanmar are still landless, lack modern infrastructures, certified paddy seeds, and are not equipped with proper knowledge and techniques on farming.
Before 2011, farmers labor organizations in Myanmar are forbidden due to its history of dictatorship. In 2011, the Labor Organization Law was enacted and the Agriculture and Farmers Federation of Myanmar (AFFM) was established with a few members. Most of these members own less than 10 acres of land. AFFM started organizing to register according to the Labor Organization Law.
In 2014, through the support of the MTCP2 Programme, AFFM started to organize more farmer members from the village level to township and up to region / state level.
In 22 May 2015, AFFM was successfully registered with the government as a federation. This is a result of the intense commitment of its members and was achieved through the MTCP2 Programme.
AFFM is the national implementing agency of AFOSP-MTCP2 Programme and also a member of the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA) in Myanmar.
About AFOSP-MTCP2
AFOSP-MTCP2 is a capacity building program funded by the European Union (EU) with co-financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The program is being implemented in seven ASEAN countries through the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC). AFOSP-MTCP2 supports the strengthening of national farmers’ organizations (FOs) and their national platform towards improving their institutional capacity to deliver economic services to their members as well as to effectively engage them in policy processes. At the ASEAN level, the consortium AFA – LVC works in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation in expanding the spaces for the engagement of FOs in ASEAN processes.
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