(1) 2,120,588 acres in Bago Division were distributed among 332,873 holdings; 98.87% of total holding area were household-based land holdings. The majority of these holdings (79.48%) were small farms under 10 acres in size and only 0.04% were large farms extending over 50 acres. Among special land holdings, 64.58% were 50 acres and above in size.
(2) The holders were mostly young adults, age-range 35 to 44 years. 90.25% of holders were males and only 9.75% were females. 97.19% of all holders had formal schooling indicating their capability to adopt improved techniques of production and to be responsive to effective extension services. 76.35% of holder worked permanently on holdings. 38.79% of land holders had other sources of income.
(3) 54.28% of all holdings employed paid workers, 51.96% employed occasional workers, and only 14.19% employed permanent workers. Agriculture, by nature of work, calls for a large number of temporary farm laboures at specific peak seasons rice sowing, planting and harvesting. A large portion of labour input was supplied by farm familes. About 65% of the members of households i.e. 1,145,149 persons were of working-age (aged 15 years and above). The proportion engaged permanently on farming was about 34% and the proporation that worked for wages outside family farms was about 17%. Among paid workers, the number of occasional workers was much as 3 times greater than that of the permanent workers. Special holdings however employed a larger percentage of hired labour, paid workers (69.39%), permanent workers (67.35%) and occasional workers (85.71%).
(4) A larger percentage of special land holdings used machinery and equipment than did household-based land holdings. 61.22% of special land holdings used water pumps, 50% used tractors, 34.69% used generators/motors, 27.08% used huller machines, 27.08% used power tillers and 22.92% used other farm machinery. Among holusehold-based land holdings, only less than 3% of holdings used machinery and equipment other than huller machines which was used by 30.84% of household-based holdings. 97.01% of household-based holdings were still using draught animals. Large farms had the advantage to adopt modern farm machinery.
(5) A large percentage of special land holdings (93.75%) used inorganic fertilizers while a large percentage (87.83%) of household-based land holdings used organic fertilizer. Also, a larger percentage of special land holdings (70.83%) used pesticides and HYV seeds (83.33%). Over two thirds (68%) of the household-based land holding had already adopted the use of HYV seeds. As in the case of capital inputs,large farms benefited from the use of new technical know-how and modern methods of cultivation.
(6) Land in Bago Division is rain-fed; often paddy fields are inundated by Sittaung River and Bago Creek during the Monsoon Rainy season. 8.28% of land holdings used irrigation. Rivers/Creeks and government canals were the important sources of irrigation, but even than, they provided irrigation to only 36 to 44% of household-based land holdings. However, for special holdings, rivers, creeks providied irrigation to 69.73% of the special holdings. Own wells provided irrigation to only 7.69% of the holdings. With the introduction of summer paddy, demand for water is expected to increase in the future.
(7) 86.54% of all holdings were paddy land, 11.69% were Kaing (alluvial) land and a small percentage were Ya (dry land), Garden land, Taungya (shifting cultivation),Squatter and Dhani lands. Among special holdings, 62.50% of the holdings were paddy land; the acreage under paddy being only 21.42% of total land area. But for rubber land, even though the proportion of special holdings was as low as 2.08%, the acreage constituted 29.70% of total land area.
(8) 88.21% of household-based land holdings and 93.75% of special holdings grew cereals on 68.26% and 54.05% of total sown area respectively. The second most important crop sown was pulses; it was followed by industrial crops. Among cereals, paddy was the main crop sown. 84.79% of household-based land holdings and 92.31% of special holdings grew fruits and nuts; 16.65% and 25.64% grew industrial crops respectively. But in terms of total productive area, 97.43% of special land holdings grew industrial permanent crops. Food grain production dominated cereal production. Area under fine Emata rice exceeds nearly 5 times that of coarse grain Ngasein rice.
(9) 97.01% of household-based land holdings and 81.25% of special land holdings used draught animals on the holdings. Although 54.14% of special holdings owned cattle and 14.58% of special holdings owned buffaloes, 78.99% of household-based land holdings owned cattle and only 12.61% owned buffaloes. The extensive use of animal power seemed to reflect that further efforts were needed to modernize the existing mode of agricultural production.
(10) The average size of an agricultural holding was 6.81 acres. The average size of an agrcultural household was 5. About one in every 3 household-based land holdings had other sources of income. The average number of parcels per household-based land holding was 2, and the average size of a parcel was 3.61 acres. The average cultivation intensity was found to be 1.3. The proportion of land left fallow was about 1.05%.
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