Myanmar's Long Road to National Reconciliation (31 page)

The two-and-half-year project received about AUD$400,000 from the Australian government. The main partners are the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and the University of Queensland.

The methodology for achieving the objectives is strongly focused on integrating a two-way linkage between the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries with the State or Division livestock staff and the project villages, some of whom have nominated village livestock field staff. All the villages were selected on the basis of being representative of the traditional village in terms of size, location (away from townships), and willingness to be involved in the project. Some selected villages were already involved in varying degrees with current national Newcastle disease control activities. The responses and reactions of villagers to all aspects of the project have been positive.

A major first task was to identify the major constraints to village production in Myanmar, as formal data on village production constraints was limited. Monthly data on poultry production from 307 households were collected. An analysis of the data confirmed that the two major constraints were mortality in adult birds due to Newcastle disease and poor survival of chickens up to 6 weeks of age.

Monthly chicken mortality fluctuated at around 10 per cent, with peaks of up to 50 per cent, usually associated with the monsoonal climate changes. The causes of the mortality were predation of chicks by birds (32 per cent), rats (31 per cent), snakes (17 per cent), dogs (15 per cent), cats (2 per cent) and other causes 2 per cent. Malnutrition of chickens was also noted as a constraint to survival by decreasing their “escape reflex” that
would help protect them from predators. Among adult poultry Newcastle disease caused high losses.

Analysis of the data clarified two strategies for sustainable poultry production. The first is confinement and supplementary feeding of chickens, and the second is vaccination of adults and growers with I2 Newcastle disease vaccine. The chickens are confined at night to reduce predation, allowed out to scavenge during the day, and are fed local broken rice as a food supplement. These strategies have been integrated into householder activities in order to reduce the labour inputs and to facilitate adoption of the technology. The preliminary results have indicated a marked reduction of predation and reduced loss of adults from Newcastle disease.

Based on the findings of the project, appropriate extension material has been developed for householders throughout Myanmar.

To support vaccine quality, several workshop and training sessions have been conducted with laboratory and field staff. These sessions have helped build the linkages between central and field livestock officers. A number of Myanmar staff were able to visit Laos for a refresher course on vaccine production. Essential laboratory support has been provided to the vaccine and diagnostic laboratories. The Australian project team from the University of Queensland assists in the implementation of the project and provides the training sessions.

This project highlights the following achievements:

•   Government extension and animal health officials have a stronger understanding of the needs and priorities of village householders. This has national significance for the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department;

•   The livestock research and extension team understands better the smallholder mixed farming systems and the competitive calls on householders’ time and funds. There is a growing appreciation of the cultural and socio-economic environment for the development of appropriate technical assistance;

•   A viable link and two-way interactions between the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department and the Vaccine Production Unit has been established. The negative impact of vaccine failures in the field and the need for quality control were highlighted, and the responsibilities and roles of all parties involved in the delivery of vaccine to householders has been strengthened;

•   The limited formal field data about village poultry, which can be used as a planning tool throughout Myanmar, have been upgraded;

•   The project provides opportunity for the landless and for women to be involved in income-generation, with reduced risk of losses from Newcastle disease over which they had no control in the past;

•   Staff of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department have been able to make contacts with other ASEAN scientists as a result of a visit to Laos;

•   A cost-recovery system for supply of vaccines to rural communities, a concept that has been tested in other poultry projects in Africa, has been developed;

•   Overall food security has improved for householders involved in the project.

The implementation of this poultry disease strategy has national benefits for Myanmar:

•   It demonstrates the relevance of an integrated research and extension system at the village, state, and central levels for improving smallholder livestock production. This experience is applicable to other major diseases such as FMD;

•   The establishment of an epidemiological village data-bank provides a model for planning programmes at the village, tract, division, and national levels of animal health and livestock extension activities. The epidemiological skills can also be used to monitor other animal diseases;

•   It demonstrates the importance of establishing research and extension priorities relevant to rural householders in order to enhance their adoption and sustainability. The spill-over of benefits from this project has significant potential to enhance existing practices nation wide.

Myanmar has a rich natural resource base in the agricultural sector, a relatively low population density, low-cost labour, and rural communities receptive to technical improvements such as animal disease control. The agricultural sector has grown in the last few years; pulses and marine
fisheries are major growth areas. The constraints to greater development are a lack of rural credit, an effective commodity-based research and extension system, and complex export and trade policies and mechanisms. Macro-economic factors such as exchange rates, the role of banks in the agricultural sector, and infrastructure deficiencies in areas such as rural electrification, transport and markets, hamper growth. International technical assistance in the agricultural sector would enable Myanmar to develop these national assets further and to reduce poverty among the rural majority.

Myanmar has received limited international assistance over the last ten years, mostly through United Nations agencies such as UNDP, FAO, and WFP. Japan, the People’s Republic of China, India, Singapore, Israel, and Thailand have provided bilateral support. International assistance has indicated that if there are appropriate extension and marketing systems, a 30 per cent increase in rural incomes can be achieved on a wide scale. Selected CGIAR institutions, such as IRRI, ICRISAT, CIFOR and others, have the potential to increase their assistance to facilitate a more productive and sustainable national rural development programme.

The realignment of research and extension approaches and methodology in a mixed farming system is important for improving food security in Myanmar. Some major benefits common to the two ACIAR projects described above include building linkages between research and extension relevant to smallholders and landless householders, and providing scientists with training for disease and rodent control through models that can be replicated in other areas. These two projects provide a model for linking the research system to farmers, generating income for poor households, assisting women and disadvantaged rural communities such as the landless, and improving food security. The projects provide opportunities for scientists from Myanmar to link with ASEAN counterparts. These two projects, and similar international technical assistance, make a national impact on food security and poverty reduction.

¹
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Bangkok Post,
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David I. Steinberg

The concept of
civil society
is now an internationally fashionable topic of academic discourse. Its original popularity in Western intellectual circles, where civil society is considered as a requisite for a democratic society, has been enhanced as this theme has been picked up in non-Western states: theorists from many countries reexamine their histories to determine whether civil society had historic roots in their own cultures and, if so, in what forms it may have existed.
¹
Thinking about civil society is thus a growth industry. Although both the term itself and the institutions that we call civil society have profoundly important and positive connotations in many societies, especially in the West, this is not universally true. In some states the concept is not generally known. In China, for example, “civil society” has been considered in official circles a pejorative term, one that implies anti-state activities and threats to the monopoly of political power
held by the Chinese Communist Party. It has thus often been considered anathema by the regime.
²