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Rising dairy and vegetable oil prices drove the FAO Food Price Index up by 5.7 percent from November 2023 and to the highest value seen since April 2023. The Index remained more than 20 percent below the peak reached in March 2022, however.

Climate change is increasing the frequency of adverse weather events and reducing agricultural productivity, particularly in warmer regions of the world (Ortiz-Bobea et al 2021). Smallholder farming households in developing countries depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and spend a larger proportion of their income on food,  making them the most vulnerable to harvest failures  (Hallegatte et al 2020).

Myanmar faces significant agricultural economic challenges as climate risks and socio-political factors intensify, increasing the urgent need for resilience, sustainable practices, and effective disaster management to ensure food security and protect livelihoods.   

Key Takeaways:

 Myanmar’s agriculture, the backbone of the economy, faces severe climate risks, including floods that impact food production, GDP, and community stability.

History shows that as agricultural technologies have gradually improved, food production has grown. Yet adverse economic, political, or disaster-related shocks can disrupt this pattern. Since 2021, the political crisis in Myanmar has led to a deterioration in positive technological change, with particularly worrisome effects on smallholder farmers, a new study published in the journal Agricultural Economics shows.

The FAO Food Price Index rose 2 percent in October to reach its highest level since April 2023. However, the Index remained 20.5 percent below the record high seen in March 2022.