Constraints and potential of development for small farmer’s

income in chin state

About two-thirds of the developing world’s 3 billion rural people live in about 475
million small farm households, working on land plots smaller than 2 hectares. Many are poor
and food insecure and have limited access to markets and services. Their choices are
constrained, but they farm their land and produce food for a substantial proportion of the
world’s population. Besides farming they have multiple economic activities, often in the
informal economy, to contribute towards their small incomes.
Chin remains one of the least developed areas of Myanmar and schools and healthcare
facilities are largely inadequate. Southern Chin is home to some of the most remote and isolated
communities in the country. In addition to having the highest poverty rate among all states and
regions (73 per cent).
Nevertheless, in today’s modern markets smallholder farmers must overcome
considerable constraints. Commercialization and the transformation of food supply chains, best
reflected by the rise of supermarkets in the developing world, offer new opportunities for
smallholder farmers. But can also marginalize them, isolating them from lucrative markets and
making them unviable economic units.
Within the family farm sector, the inequality is pronounced, in spite of land reform
policies. Asia offers many positive lessons on agricultural development, but rural poverty
remains a problem.
Smallholders often make these decisions in an economic environment in which markets
do not function well, if at all, and which is also subject to many risks, such as adverse weather
and price surges. And this has significant implications for their choices and their livelihoods.
It also affects their choices on investing on themselves and their children – on how to attain
social and human capital objectives, such as education and health.