Friday, July 27, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Fast-Growing Coffee Sector Looks for Extra Shot of Support From Government

Posted: 27 Jul 2018 04:01 AM PDT

YANGON— Myanmar's coffee market is growing robustly, with the country's beans attracting increasing interest in international markets as well as locally, industry sources said.

U Min Hlaing, secretary of the Myanmar Coffee Association, said demand for Myanmar coffee has surged in the past few years and it is now being exported to more than a dozen Asian and Western countries.

"Coffee exports are set to double from last year," he said.

In 2017, over 100 tonnes of the country's coffee beans were shipped to foreign markets while this year the figure is expected to exceed 200 tonnes, to about 15 foreign countries including the new emerging markets of Canada, Belgium and New Zealand, U Min Hlaing said, citing official data, which doesn't include border trade.

In August 2016, Myanmar exported two shipments of coffee beans to the United States, the first commercial-scale imports in nearly two decades, after Washington lifted its remaining economic sanctions on the country.

Since then, the United States has become the largest foreign market for Myanmar coffee. Domestically, coffee consumption has also increased. As the tourism sector has boomed, the country has seen a wave of cafés open in past four years.

Yet, production and exports of the previously neglected crop remain small compared to the levels of major coffee-producing countries in the neighborhood such as Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia, U Min Hlaing said.

"We need to boost coffee production," he said.

Arabica and Robusta, the main coffee varieties, are grown in many locations throughout the country, although primarily in highland areas in Shan, Kachin, Kayah and Chin states as well as in Mandalay Division.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation hopes to increase coffee acreage to 200, 000 and export 60, 000 tonnes by 2030, state media has reported.

Currently, there are about 50, 000 acres of coffee plantations producing more than 7, 000 tonnes a year.

U Ye Myint, the chairman of the Myanmar Coffee Association, said land conflicts in the regions as well as increasing land prices are the main difficulties for coffee growers seeking to expand their plantations.

He said the growing agro-business needed support from the government in the form of loans and better technology as well as measures to boost quality control and demand to support sustainable growth.

"We hope for assistance from the government not only moral support," he said.

The post Fast-Growing Coffee Sector Looks for Extra Shot of Support From Government appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Young Bag-Maker Draws Inspiration From Traditional Weavers

Posted: 27 Jul 2018 02:14 AM PDT

YWARLUT, Bilu Island, Mon State – Handmade cloth bags featuring ethnic-inspired patterns are becoming popular with local women who love the traditional fabrics. One of the few women to have started a successful home business out of a love for making the bags is Ma Hnin Phyu. Her small business also provides jobs for local women in her community, who have skills but for a number of reasons could not leave their homes in Ywarlut Village, Chaung Zon Township on Bilu Island in Mon State.

This emerging woman entrepreneur's story began with her love for the bags in their many different styles as well as a love of designing them. "I want other people to enjoy them as much as I do, so I started the business," she said.

With the help of her mother and friends she began the home business, which now provides local women with jobs, while also supporting female weavers of traditional clothing in Mon and Karen states.

"When I first started, people loved my bag designs, so I kept doing it and the business got bigger," Ma Hnin Phyu, 28, told The Irrawaddy.

Travel bag made with traditional Mon longyi fabric.

Ma Hnin Phyu first learnt how to make bags with a teacher from the office of the Mon Women's Organization eight years ago. But she did not venture into making bags commercially until a year ago, after she had trained with a professional bag-tailor in Yangon to hone her skills. It was then that she felt ready to create her own designs using the traditional patterns.

She markets her products under the "Mis Bloy" brand, which means "the pearl", and proudly labels them "Made in Ywarlut" under an image of a smoking pipe. Ywarlut is famous for its pipe-making on Bilu Island, a popular tourist attraction in Mon State.

Shoulder bag made from cotton.

"She has the potential to be successful as her ambition is high and she wants to expand the business," said Daw Cherry Shein, the Yangon trainer who coached Ma Hnin Phyu in bag-making with traditional cloth.

"The cloth bags made with traditional Chin, Mon, Kachin and Karen fabrics are getting more and more popular these days," said Daw Cherry Shein, who has been creating cloth bags for more than two decades.

She added that it is not only foreigners who love the bags but also local women, who are starting to match the traditional cloth bags with their dresses. Daw Cherry Shein provides training on both a paid and voluntary basis. She said Ma Hnin Phyu was one of only a few of her students who had the potential to make something more than a hobby out of a love for the bags.

Handbag made with Mon traditional (women's) longyi fabrics.

Mis Bloy cloth bags are handmade in a small workshop that is filled with traditional Mon fabrics – usually used for longyis (sarongs) for both men and women — and customers can order by choosing the colors, patterns and design, or they can simply buy finished products at a shop in Ywarlut or by ordering them through the company's Facebook page.

Schoolbag made with traditional Mon cloth (men's longyi).

Mis Bloy also takes orders to make bags based on other ethnic designs such as Karen, Kachin or Chin for other brands as well.

In the beginning, Ma Hnin Phyu took individual orders from each customer. It took time to create the unique designs and she was not able to produce many bags. It was also an expensive way to do business. "Then I decided to make many bags available with several designs so that the customers could choose from them," she said.

Mis Bloy products are distributed to shops in Moulmein, Thanphyuzayet and Ye townships in Mon State, as well as to Paan, the capital of Karen State, and to stores in Yangon.

The post Young Bag-Maker Draws Inspiration From Traditional Weavers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Former Mandalay Chief Minister Refuses to Return ‘Misused’ Development Funds

Posted: 26 Jul 2018 11:31 PM PDT

Mandalay – The former chief minister of Mandalay said on Thursday that there was no need for development funds that the current regional government has claimed were used in an "unclear" manner to be returned.

The current regional government said in June that it found discrepancies regarding the use of Mandalay's development fund under the previous regional administration.

U Ye Myint, the former chief minister, told a press conference in Mandalay that the development funds were donated voluntarily by tycoons and local businessmen and therefore did not need to be returned.

"That money absolutely does not belong to the regional government or to the central government. It is not from the state's budget, so there is no need to hand it over to the government," U Ye Myint said.

The former chief minister said the funds were transferred to the Yadanapon Foundation, which was formed in September 2017 under the patronage of former general U Hla Myint Swe. The foundation is still working on regional development projects under the guidance of U Hla Myint Swe.

He added that most of the funds had been audited and the audit statement handed over to the government.

"There's nothing left to return. As the chief minister asked for an explanation of some of the expenditures, we did that and an audit statement was submitted," U Ye Myint said.

He said that he had already sent an explanation about the use of the funds to President U Win Myint in May before the regional government held its press conference. However, he had received no reply from the President's Office, he said.

"I also sent a letter to Chief Minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, yesterday (July 25), to clarify the discrepancies found in the audit," U Ye Myint said.

"Because, the final audit of all the uses of the funds was already done, I don't understand why there are discrepancies. Why don't they check the responsible governmental office about it?" he added. "My conscience is very clear that I did nothing wrong."

At the June press conference, which focused on the work done by the regional government in 2016 to 2017, the chief minister stated there were discrepancies relating to over 3 billion kyats from the regional development fund during the 2012 to 2016 budget years, during the term of U Ye Myint and his regional government team.

The chief minister told the journalists that there were differences and unclear statements regarding funds that were used in development sectors such as education, rural development, telecommunications and general rehabilitation.

Since January, the auditor's general office in Naypyidaw reportedly said it had found fraud cases and was reviewing unlawful expenditures involving regional development funds in many states and divisions under the previous administration of President U Thein Sein.

In Irrawaddy Division, the Ayeyarwaddy Health and Education Multi-Developments Foundation, which was formed to deploy regional funds, is reportedly going to return 5.2 billion kyats to the government, following allegations of corruption and fraud.

The secretary of that foundation told The Irrawaddy on July 17 that it would return the funds after receiving notification from the regional government under the instruction of the President's Office.

Meanwhile, in Sagaing Division, the prior regional government handed over 1.7 billion kyats of development funds early this year.

The post Former Mandalay Chief Minister Refuses to Return 'Misused' Development Funds appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Specter of Yangon as a Mega City Casts Shadow Over Whole Country’s Future

Posted: 26 Jul 2018 08:47 PM PDT

According to the most recent census, Myanmar's population reached 50.28 million in 2014, of which 14.9 million, or around 30 percent of the country's people, lived in towns and cities. The annual growth rate of this urban population has been 1.72 percent over the last 30 years compared to 1.12 percent for the country as a whole. If the population continues to grow at the same pace, it will reach around 78 million by the middle of this century with an urban population that has doubled in size to almost 30 million (Fig.1).

 

Fig. 1 National and urban population forecasts based on current trends

Fig. 2 Population forecast for Yangon with three scenarios

In Yangon, due to in-migration from other areas, the pace of growth has been higher than the national urbanization rate. Based on the current trends, Yangon's population will reach between 13 million and 16 million by the middle of this century (Fig.2). This expected 2- or 3-fold increase in the size of Yangon's population over the coming four decades is based on the assumption that the city will grow at the rate of the past, without any interventions, such as “the new city” in or around Yangon as the authorities are planning.

As revealed by the authorities, “The New Yangon City” should provide employment for 2 million people, implying a population of around 8 million. In the urban planning field, the word “gravitation effect” is used to refer to the additional population needed to provide necessary services to the workforce and their families; and this can be as much as another 50 percent, or even more in the context of developing economies. Combining this 12 million increase due to the new city (if it were completed by the middle of the century) and Yangon's expected population of 14 million (based on the middle scenario), Yangon is on track to become a gigantic agglomeration area with a population of around 26 million by 2050. This would make it bigger than even Shanghai, presently the most populous city in the world with 24 million people, and Karachi, which presently has 23.5 million, and Beijing with around 21 million. At the same time, it needs to be highlighted that Yangon’s infrastructure and transportation networks have numerous shortcomings (only 30 percent of Yangon’s households receive water supplied by the Yangon City and Development Committee, or YCDC, only 60 percent of households have electric meter boxes, in peak hours, it takes about 3 hours to drive from Hlaing Thayar, the western suburb of the city, to Sule Pagoda, etc.)
From an urbanization perspective, such an extraordinary population increase implies this one city would absorb all the expected urban population increase of the country in the coming four decades, which is around 15 million. It also means that all the out-migration from rural areas would come to Yangon and all other urban settlements of the Union would not have further population increases.

Yangon authorities envisage that the required investment for the infrastructure of the new city would be around US$1.5 billion, which is around 17 percent of the national debt (based on our national debt of US$8.9 billion in 2016). The question is whether this investment is justified given that Yangon's population already has the best in the Union in terms of healthcare, employment and education facilities, electricity usage, Internet quality and availability, etc.

These disparities and the inequalities are seen when various socio-economic data between the states and regions are compared. To highlight only a few of these, Yangon Division’s 7 million people, who account for 14 percent of the Union, create 22 percent of total GDP, while the per capita GDP of Yangon Region is more than double than that of the Union’s average and around six times more than the least developed regions such as Chin State and Tanintharyi Region. In the healthcare sector, Yangon Division has about three times more hospital beds per head of population than Rakhine, Mon and Irrawaddy Regions, and these healthcare services are reflected in the “life expectancy” rates — these figures show around 10 years' difference between regions with the highest life expectancy and those with the lowest (Fig. 6 & 7). From the aspect of national reconciliation, the question should be raised: What are the ramifications of this disparity and inequality between regions for national unity and the Union's long-term future?

Presently, Yangon with over 5 million people is around four times larger than the Union’s second largest city, Mandalay, while all other state and division capitals have populations ranging from 250 000 to 25,000. Excluding Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw, there were only 14 towns with populations exceeding 100,000 in 2014. These towns have development potential because they are on the main communication lines. Meanwhile, the regional capitals of Magwe, Dawai, Hpa-An, Loikaw and Hakha are home to fewer than 100,000 people. From the aspects of national unity, it would be desirable to improve urban services such as hospitals, electricity, Internet, etc. in all the regional capitals and additionally identify the development regions and improve the transportation networks between these regions. It is clear then that the whole issue of national urbanization and Yangon planning should be an integral part of the country’s national development plan.

Fig. 3 Capitals of states and divisions, and towns with populations over 100,000 in 2014′

Fig. 4 GDP of states and divisions in 2010-11 (Source: Publications from the Ministry of Planning and Finance

Fig. 5. Per capita GDP of states and divisions. Yangon Division’s per capita GDP is around six times higher than that of Kayin, Chin and Kachin states. Based on data from the Ministry of Planning and Finance (2012).

 

Fig. 6. Hospital bed and population ratios. Chin State, although in second place, has no hospitals operated by the private sector. Source: Processed from the Statistical Yearbook, 2017

Fig. 7. Comparison of life expectancy at birth between states and regions. Source: Tables 17, Census 2014, Main Report (Union)

Fig. 8. 22 percent of electricity is produced in Yangon Division

Dr. Kyaw Lat is an architect and urban planner who has worked with the Department of Human Settlements and Housing Development, Ministry of Construction and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). He was also a professor at Yangon and Mandalay Technological universities, professor at Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and finally before his retirement an advisor to the Yangon City and Development Committee from 2011 until 2016.

The post Specter of Yangon as a Mega City Casts Shadow Over Whole Country's Future appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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