Agriculture represents 38 per cent of Myanmar’s GDP, employs 60 per cent of the active population and uses close to 20 per cent of the country’s land. However, Myanmar’s agriculture sector is not as efficient as it could be due to a lack of agricultural information that is limiting crop yields, creating a disconnect between buyers and sellers, and generating additional waste due to poor demand projection for agricultural inputs. This lack of information also keeps smallholder farmers in poverty. As a comparison, a farmer in Myanmar earns about $1.80–$2.50 per day in monsoon season compared to $10.00–$16.50 per day in Thailand and $7.80 per day in the Philippines.
Greenovator received a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund in November 2018 to develop a marketplace service that provides farmers with information on agricultural inputs and outputs. The service is in turn expected to help reduce costs and increase incomes for farmers in Myanmar.
The Ecosystem Accelerator programme is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Government, the GSMA and its members.
