A case study of rice marketing in selected areas of Myanmar

Abstract

This paper evaluates the rice marketing channels and the interaction of market participants in selected areas of Myanmar. The main rice marketing channels in the studied sites indicate that almost all products of farmers flow to collectors and millers. Lack of formal cooperative structures, farmers support groups and growing market power of millers at the farm-gate level result that fanners possess low bargaining power in the trading of paddy and rice at the studied areas. Moreover news about price changes and relevant price-making forces in pertinent terminal market are generally obtained from informal sources. This indicates that the informal market information is dominant and plays an important role. Government should build-up the cooperatives not only to encourage the bargaining power of farmers at farm gate level, but also to accelerate the market intelligence of intermediaries in the rice marketing channel. Moreover, to solve the conflicting sources of information, a public market information center organized by government and non-profit rice trader's organization is needed to distribute reliable up-to-date market information effectively and efficiently.