The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the role of mechanization in agricultural development. This literature has given rise to debates over the design of institutions and policies to facilitate accelerated mechanization, the role of outsourcing services in overcoming problems of acces...

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Main Authors: Belton, Ben, Win, Myat Thida, Zhang, Xiaobo, Filipski, Mateusz J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142549
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author Belton, Ben
Win, Myat Thida
Zhang, Xiaobo
Filipski, Mateusz J.
author_browse Belton, Ben
Filipski, Mateusz J.
Win, Myat Thida
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_facet Belton, Ben
Win, Myat Thida
Zhang, Xiaobo
Filipski, Mateusz J.
author_sort Belton, Ben
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the role of mechanization in agricultural development. This literature has given rise to debates over the design of institutions and policies to facilitate accelerated mechanization, the role of outsourcing services in overcoming problems of access to machinery, and questions regarding the future of smallholder agriculture. We contribute to these debates using two pairs of complementary demand side (farm household) and supply side (agricultural machinery retailer) surveys, implemented in Myanmar in 2016 and 2017 across two major agro-ecological zones. Our analysis provides evidence that extremely rapid agricultural mechanization took place during the period of political and economic reforms from 2011 to 2020. In both zones surveyed, use of machinery for land preparation, harvesting, and threshing was close to scale-neutral due to a dynamic outsourcing services market. Rather than representing a single transformational change, mechanization’s broad appeal to farm households results from an accumulation of incremental, overlapping, complementary advantages. These include labor savings, reduced drudgery, convenience, increased speed and timeliness of operations, improved ability to manage weather-related risks, and reduced loss of grain during harvesting. We provide examples of policies on trade, finance, and land tenure that contributed to this transformation with practical implications for ongoing debates on mechanization in other countries, and suggest some generalizable lessons.
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spelling CGSpace1425492025-02-24T06:49:40Z The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar Belton, Ben Win, Myat Thida Zhang, Xiaobo Filipski, Mateusz J. land tenure capacity development labour banking agriculture smallholders trade agricultural mechanization cultivated land risk mechanization The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the role of mechanization in agricultural development. This literature has given rise to debates over the design of institutions and policies to facilitate accelerated mechanization, the role of outsourcing services in overcoming problems of access to machinery, and questions regarding the future of smallholder agriculture. We contribute to these debates using two pairs of complementary demand side (farm household) and supply side (agricultural machinery retailer) surveys, implemented in Myanmar in 2016 and 2017 across two major agro-ecological zones. Our analysis provides evidence that extremely rapid agricultural mechanization took place during the period of political and economic reforms from 2011 to 2020. In both zones surveyed, use of machinery for land preparation, harvesting, and threshing was close to scale-neutral due to a dynamic outsourcing services market. Rather than representing a single transformational change, mechanization’s broad appeal to farm households results from an accumulation of incremental, overlapping, complementary advantages. These include labor savings, reduced drudgery, convenience, increased speed and timeliness of operations, improved ability to manage weather-related risks, and reduced loss of grain during harvesting. We provide examples of policies on trade, finance, and land tenure that contributed to this transformation with practical implications for ongoing debates on mechanization in other countries, and suggest some generalizable lessons. 2021-05-18 2024-05-22T12:10:39Z 2024-05-22T12:10:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142549 en https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103094 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2017.01.012 https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293809_02 https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293809 Open Access Elsevier Belton, Ben; Win, Myat Thida; Zhang, Xiaobo; and Filipski, Mateusz J. 2021. The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar. Food 101(May 2021): 102095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102095
spellingShingle land tenure
capacity development
labour
banking
agriculture
smallholders
trade
agricultural mechanization
cultivated land
risk
mechanization
Belton, Ben
Win, Myat Thida
Zhang, Xiaobo
Filipski, Mateusz J.
The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title_full The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title_fullStr The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title_full_unstemmed The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title_short The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
title_sort rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in myanmar
topic land tenure
capacity development
labour
banking
agriculture
smallholders
trade
agricultural mechanization
cultivated land
risk
mechanization
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142549
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