Western States Agribusiness Project

Although Myanmar produces enough rice to meet its consumption needs as a whole, its rural poor are often food-insecure and do not have access to adequate food to meet their caloric and nutritional needs, or enough income to buy essential items.

The Western States Agribusiness Project aims to increase household incomes, food security and nutrition quality by helping rural communities develop agricultural commodities and agribusinesses that can generate a profit and respond to market demand. Training will be made available so that farmers can improve their skills and knowledge in order to modernize production techniques. Improved irrigation to ensure a reliable supply of water to farms and household gardens, along with rural access roads to facilitate farm to market mobility, will also be developed. A total of 390,000 rural people in the northern Magway region and southern Chin state are expected to benefit.

Due to its past isolation, Myanmar's agricultural sector has not benefited fully from global advances in agricultural technology. IFAD's strategy in the country is to focus on modernizing agriculture, upgrading value chains, fostering links between smallholder farmers and agribusinesses, diversifying livelihoods, promoting rural enterprises and generating employment off the farm.