Dairy Excellence in Turbulent Times - the Myanmar Dairy Excellence project's covid-19 response
The Agribusiness’ work in Myanmar has not been immune to the disruption sweeping the world in recent months. For now, our focus is on keeping our people safe while we work from home. But we look forward to getting boots back on the ground soon, helping contribute to the recovery of Myanmar’s economy.
MDEP farmer discussion group
Through January and into February, we at the Myanmar Dairy Excellence Project (MDEP) monitored without huge concern the increasing COVID-19 case numbers in our neighbour to the north, China. Coming into March, Myanmar continued to report no COVID-19 cases as Europe began to feel the impact. We began to realise how seriously this virus could affect our work and put contingency plans in place.
As international borders started shutting down New Zealand’s government told Kiwis to return home. MDEP made the call to evacuate our expatriate staff on Wednesday the 18th of March, booking our flights just four days out from departure. This was a heart-wrenching decision to make. There was a whirlwind of activity setting the project up to be led by our capable local team until we could return.
MDEP trained milking machine technical, Min Thu, and MDEP Technical Advisor, Shaun Snoxell, training farmer on his newly installed milking equipment
I was down in Yangon on Thursday night meeting with stakeholders to explain MDEP’s plans. With the situation evolving so rapidly, I woke up around 3am to check my emails. Overnight, the borders to Thailand had shut and our flights cancelled. In my inbox was an email saying my flights had been re-booked out of Mandalay that day at 7pm. I had just 16 hours to travel over 600kms to Mandalay, pack up my house, hand over the project, and get on a plane out of Mandalay.
We have a fantastic local team who are extremely capable of leading the project in the absence of foreigners. Our key local partner, the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary department, continues to support MDEP’s reduced activities until fieldwork can resume again. While MDEP’s New Zealander team members are disappointed to have had to temporarily leave Myanmar, the work will continue regardless. This presents an opportunity to continue building the skills of our local team, while we empower them to get the job done remotely. I look forward to returning to Myanmar as soon as possible.
Myanmar’s lock-down has so far managed to keep the case numbers of COVID-19 impressively low. Part of this is not doubt due to the lack of testing, with just over 10,000 total tests completed to date in a country of around 54 million people. The lockdown has come at a significant cost to Myanmar livelihoods, in a country where many people have little savings, and without economic support packages. The economic impact has hit the dairy industry as much as all sectors. Milk prices and volumes sold are down, but showing signs of recovery compared to the beginning of lockdown.
It is a time when many farmers are having to make tough calls around reducing costs and culling stock in the face of a rapidly transformed market. A situation many New Zealand dairy farmers will remember all too well from 2015. This will be temporary, but regardless the Myanmar farmers need continued technical support.
It is more crucial now than ever that farmers can reduce their cost of production, and milk processors can improve the quality of products they offer. Our team is currently working from home to continue supporting the dairy industry. While at home, we have adapted to providing support and extension advice to farmers and milk processors via phone calls. We are also using the time to develop resources for the dairy industry that can be used by farmers, extension agents, government staff, universities and people down the milk value chain. We are putting more emphasis on social media outreach, with one recent post gaining over 100,000 views and over 1,300 shares! While we are disappointed to not be out in the field at the moment, we are excited by this opportunity to provide the dairy industry with relevant Burmese-language resources that will be used for years to come. As the lockdown eases, we will return to our regular programme of work.
Dairy will be a small part of Myanmar’s COVID-19 recovery. The journey ahead for the country and its’ dairy industry will be challenging, but MDEP looks forward to being a part of it. Quality nutrition and sustainable livelihoods are more important now than ever. The capacity already built by MDEP is being strengthened by this temporary challenge, but there is still a need for continued quality dairy technical advice to help farmers and processors weather this strong. With a capable local team and strong relationships with local partners, MDEP is committed to continuing to support farmers and milk processors over the year ahead.
Farmer’s listening to Shwe Oh farm owner, U Tin Win, at farmer field day
Milk reception at the Tapel Village Milk Collection Centre
