This series of reports focuses on farming inputs and services, including mechanization service providers offering land preparation and retailers supplying key agricultural inputs. It tracks availability, pricing, and constraints faced by these actors during the monsoon planting season.
Latest Findings from the 2024 Monsoon Season
Mechanization Service Providers (MSPs)
- The observed conditions on the ground in the 2024 monsoon planting season show generally robust demand but also continuing challenges for MSPs in Myanmar.
- The areas prepared by MSPs in the 2024 monsoon seasons and harvested in the 2024 dry season are largely comparable to 2023 seasons.
- Price increases, which had already been observed for machines and parts, have extended to fuels, repair services, and operators.
- Most MSPs have been able to pass on such cost increases to farmers by charging significantly higher hiring fees (25 and 50 percent higher for plowing and combine-harvesting respectively), and most MSPs who stayed in business have reduced debts and saw improvement in their financial standings
- However, a significant share of MSPs also faced challenges in meeting demand due to supplyside cost shocks and/or left the business altogether. Access to new machines, attachments and spare parts are deteriorating rapidly, threatening the supply of mechanized services.
- Persistent rises in costs, combined with political instability, remain a significant source of uncertainty for MSPs, which requires close monitoring for the remainder of the 2024 season, in addition to the implications on farmers welfare and crop production.
Agricultural Input Retailers
- Persistent Economic Disruptions: Input retailers face ongoing challenges from high input costs, exchange rate volatility, and logistical disruptions, leading to significant revenue losses.
- Shift in Transaction Methods: As banking operations normalize, input retailers are increasingly using bank transfers and mobile payments for purchasing inputs, while cash remains the primary method for sales, reflecting a cautious adaptation to new financial tools.
- Rising Costs and Reduced Sales: Increased prices for key inputs like fertilizers have led to a notable decrease in sales volumes, suggesting that higher costs are dampening demand and potentially impacting farmers’ ability to sustain productivity.
- High Impact of Economic and Conflict-Related Shocks: Ongoing shocks from high input costs, exchange rate volatility, and regional conflicts have significantly impacted Myanmar’s input retailers, with revenue losses of 30-40 percent.
- Diverse but declining Support Services: Input retailers provide a wide range of additional advisory and technical services. However, the share of retailers offering these services has declined over the past decade, potentially reducing farmers' access to essential input guidance and impacting agricultural productivity.
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Season |
Actor |
Link to Report |
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2024-25 Monsoon Season |
Mechanization Service Providers (July 2024) |
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Agricultural Input Retailers (August 2024) |
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2023-24 Monsoon Season |
Mechanization Service Providers (July 2023) |
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Agricultural Input Retailers (August 2023) |
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2022-23 Monsoon Season |
Mechanization Service Providers (July 2022) |
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Agricultural Input Retailers (July 2022) |
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2021-22 Monsoon Season |
Mechanization Service Providers (July 2021) |
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Agricultural Input Retailers (September 2021) |