Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Yangon peri-urban poultry farmers - November 2020 survey round
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Yangon peri-urban poultry farmers - November 2020 survey round

Author: Fang, Peixun

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-12-22

Total Pages: 11

ISBN-13:

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Poultry farmers in Myanmar were interviewed by telephone in early June, late June, early July, late July, and August 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of those surveys were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Notes 11, 13, 19, 21, and 28, respectively. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a sixth round of the phone survey of poultry farmers was done in November 2020. The sixth round sample included 226 poultry farmers (162 broiler and 64 layer farms) in the Yangon peri-urban area (Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon regions) who had been interviewed in the first five rounds of the survey. The same survey questionnaire was used. This survey round is three months after the August survey round, so most broiler farms should have finished a full production cycle between the two last survey rounds. This Policy Note reports on the results of this sixth survey round.

Impact of a gender and nutrition behavioral change communication amid the COVID-19 crisis in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone
Impact of a gender and nutrition behavioral change communication amid the COVID-19 crisis in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone

Author: Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA)

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13:

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Social behavior change communication (SBCC) interventions on gender and nutrition are now commonly implemented, but their impact on diet quality and empowerment is rarely assessed rigorously. We estimate the impact of a nutrition and gender SBCC intervention on women’s dietary diversity and empowerment in Myanmar during an especially challenging period—the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The intervention was implemented as a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 30 villages in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone. Our analysis employs data from the baseline survey implemented in February 2020 and a phone survey implemented in February–March 2021 and focuses on women’s dietary diversity and sub-indicators of the project-level women’s empowerment in agriculture index (pro-WEAI). Two indicators of women’s empowerment―inputs to productive decisions and access to and decisions over credit―improved, indicating that SBCC interventions can contribute to changing gendered perceptions and behaviors; however, most of the empowerment indicators did not change, indicating that much of gendered norms and beliefs take time to change. Women’s dietary diversity scores were higher by half a food group out of 10 in treatment villages. More women in treatment villages consumed nuts, milk, meat or fish, and Vitamin A–rich foods daily than in control villages. We show that even in the setting of a pandemic, a SBCC intervention can be delivered through a range of tools, including household visits, phone-based coaching, and voice-based training, that are responsive to local and individual resource limitations. Gender messaging can change some gendered perceptions; but it may take more time to change deeply ingrained gender norms. Nutrition messaging can help counter the declines in dietary quality that would be expected from negative shocks to supply chains and incomes.

Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes – October 2020 survey round
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes – October 2020 survey round

Author: Lambrecht, Isabel

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-12-02

Total Pages: 9

ISBN-13:

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The persistent and worsening effects of the COVID-19 crisis on rural household incomes are alarming. The onset of the second wave of infections and mitigation measures in Myanmar is continuing to depress household incomes. Key findings: Almost three-quarters of the households surveyed reported lower household income than usual in August and September. In addition to a drought and lack of irrigation water limiting crop production in August and September, 22 percent of farmers experienced difficulties accessing inputs and 28 percent invested less than usual in their farm due to financial constraints. A quarter of farmers experienced difficulties selling their produce, which is lower than the share that reported having such difficulties in previous months. However, farmers anticipate further difficulties hampering sales in coming months, mainly due to expected restrictions on mobility. Landless households have been the most adversely affected by the crisis, largely due to lost nonfarm employment, lower remittances, and further negative impacts on rural enterprises. To cope with reduced incomes, 61 percent of households reported having reduced food expenditures, 36 percent sold assets, and 37 percent took loans. Households maintained the diversity of their diets but reduced the amount of meat and fish consumed. More households reported meat and fish to be less available than in previous rounds. Government transfer programs reached 99 percent of households in the study area, mostly in the form of income assistance. Recommended actions: Assistance to rural households should be continued to soften the impact of reduced income during the COVID-19 crisis and prevent households from jeopardizing future food security and health by depleting savings and assets, acquiring debt, and reducing food expenditures. Supporting rural non-farm businesses and employment will be key to building resilience in household livelihoods and to achieving a faster overall economic recovery.

The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021
The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-03-17

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 9251340714

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On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2020-07-01

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 925132901X

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Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions. The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes - June 2020 survey round
Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes - June 2020 survey round

Author: Lambrecht, Isabel

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-08-14

Total Pages: 9

ISBN-13:

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This policy note provides evidence of the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on farming communities in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone using baseline data from January 2020 and follow-up phone survey data. The first round of the phone survey was conducted between 10 and 21 June 2020 and inquired about the effects of COVID-19 on agricultural production and other livelihood sources from February to May 2020. In total, 1,070 male and female respondents from 605 households in 30 communities were interviewed. The sample for the phone survey covers all nonirrigation households and all women-adult-only households (WHH), as these categories of households were few in the baseline survey, and a randomly selected subsample of the dual-adult irrigation households covered in the baseline.

Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes - August 2020 survey round
Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural production and rural livelihoods in two irrigation schemes - August 2020 survey round

Author: Lambrecht, Isabel

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 8

ISBN-13:

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This policy note provides evidence of the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on farming communities in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone using baseline data from January 2020 (BL) and followup telephone survey data. 1 The first round of the telephone survey was conducted with 606 households between 10 and 21 June 2020 (PS1) and inquired about the effects of COVID-19 on agricultural production and other livelihood sources from February to May 2020. The second round effects of COVID-19 in June and July.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2021
The State of Food and Agriculture 2021

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-11-23

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9251343292

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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agrifood systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition. Action is needed to make agrifood systems more resilient, efficient, sustainable and inclusive. The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 presents country-level indicators of the resilience of agrifood systems. The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. They can thus help assess the capacity of national agrifood systems to absorb shocks and stresses, a key aspect of resilience. The report analyses the vulnerabilities of food supply chains and how rural households cope with risks and shocks. It discusses options to minimize trade-offs that building resilience may have with efficiency and inclusivity. The aim is to offer guidance on policies to enhance food supply chain resilience, support livelihoods in the agrifood system and, in the face of disruption, ensure sustainable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all.

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021–2030
OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021–2030

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-07-05

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 9251346089

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The Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well as input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of the prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. The publication consists of 11 Chapters; Chapter 1 covers agricultural and food markets; Chapter 2 provides regional outlooks and the remaining chapters are dedicated to individual commodities.