The rise of COVID-19 infections and policies imposed to control the spread of the disease may have created significant food market disruptions. Disruptions in food markets are an obvious concern, given the importance of agricultural prices for the income of farmers and food prices for the already lower purchasing power - due to reduced incomes because of the economic impacts of COVID-19 - of consumers.
On October 15, 2020, the Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity held a virtual policy seminar in collaboration with USAID, Mercy Corps, the Myanmar Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association, and Karzo, presenting findings based on recent phone surveys of COVID-19’s impact on food markets in Myanmar. The seminar addressed the negative effects of the COVID-19 crisis on rural and urban food vendors and highlighted market disruptions caused by the second wave of the pandemic.
The Director General of the Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation, U Kyaw Swe Lin, also provided government perspectives on these issues and information on the recent actions the Myanmar government has undertaken to minimize food market disruptions.
Moderator:
Matt Curtis, Feed the Future Coordinator, USAID
Opening remarks:
U Kyaw Swe Lin, Director General, Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI)
Speakers:
Bart Minten, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute – Assessing the Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Markets in Myanmar
Joey Goeb, Research Associate, Michigan State University – COVID-19 Market Disruptions: Urban Food Retailers
Jon Keesecker, Market Analysis Unit Team Leader, Mercy Corps - Rakhine Paddy Farmer Snapshot
Derek Headey, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute – Assessing Disruptions to Food Markets at the Community Level
Panelists:
Sandar Myo, Secretary of the Myanmar, Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association
Simon Howett, Chief Business Officer, Karzo
Relevant publications
- Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Food vendors – June/July 2020
- Monitoring the impact of COVI-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural commodity traders – synopsis of results from three survey rounds through early August 2020
- Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural input retailers - synopsis of results from five survey rounds through late July 2020
- Additional COVID-19 impact analyses from IFPRI-Myanmar
