Food security in dry zone area : a case of Magway, Myanmar

Abstract

This paper is to study food security of Magway City and its nearby areas from Dry Zone of Myanmar. Dry Zone of Myanmar (Burma) is from very central part of the country and consists of three Regions -Magway, Mandalay and lower part of Sagaing. The area was affected by a series of consecutive years of drought. Irregular and scarce rainfall happening continuously in last decade leads to extreme water shortages and it is under a constant threat to the viability of rural livelihoods. In general, dry zone area is included in one of the most food insecure areas of Myanmar and one of the most food insecure areas in the South East Asian region too, with the poor agricultural yields. This paper emphasis is on Magway city and its nearby areas. Qualitative research method with in- depth interviews to the villagers, field observations, and interviews with people who have been participating in food security programme were used for the collection of data. The findings in accordance with the five programmatic action areas reveals that there is no strong sense of food security in the studied areas. The “water management” and “access to credit” areas of Dry Zone Action Plan are the most important factors influence the food security of the dry zone in general. There are a lot of locations which do not have aids programs too. It would be interesting to do further studies in the Dry Zone as a whole in the future.