(1) 714,642 acres in Rakhine State were distributed among 193,455 holdings; 99.19% of total holding
area were household-based land holdings. The mojority of these household-based land holdings ( 74.10% ) were small farms under 5 acres in size, and only very few 0.03%
were large farms extending over 50 acres. Among special land holdings, 79.37% were 50 acres and above in size.
(2) 93.66% of holders were males and only 6.34% were females. 78.06% of all holders had formal schooling indicating their capability to adopt improved techniques of production and to be responsive to effective extension sevices. 73.19% of holders worked permanently on holdings. 32.80% of land holders had other sources of income.
(3) 35.71% of all holdings employed paid workers, 30.73% employed occasional workers, and only 14.49% employed permanent
workers. A large portion of labour input was supplied by farm families. Among paid workers, the number of occasional workers
was as much as 2 times greater than that of the permanent workers.
Special holdings however employed a comparatively larger percentage of hired labour; paid workers 51.56% , permanent workers
14.06% and occasional workers 56.25%.
(4) A larger percentage of special land holdings used machinery and equipment than did household-based land holdings.
7.81% of special land holdings used water pumps, 3.17% used tractors, 4.69% used generators/motors, 6.35% used power tillers,
and 3.17% used other farm machinery. Among household-based land holdings, only 0.09% of household-based holdings used huller
machines. Large farms had the advantage to adopt modern farm machinery.
(5) A comparatively larger percentage of special land holdings used agricultural chemicals, 73.02% used inorganic
fertilizers, and 76.19% used organic fertilizers. The same is true with the use of pesticicides and HYV seeds; 49.21%
used pesticides and 33.33% used 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) 2.30% of land holdings used irrigation. Rivers, creeks and canals were the important sources of irrigation; they
provided irrigation to 69.75% of household-based land holdings.
(7) 93.67% of the total holding area were paddy land, 2.59% were garden land, and a small percentage 1.12% were ya land.
Among special hodings, 55.85% of the holding area was paddy land,
(8) 49.26% of total productive area operated by household-based land holdings,and 11.23% by special land holdings were under
fruits and nuts. For household-based land holdings, the second most important crop was industrial crops.
47.90% of household-based land holdings, and 92.98% of special land holdings grew fruits and nuts.
(9) 92.07% of all land holdings used draught animals. Regarding cattle and buffaloes, 65.28% of household-based land
holdings owned cattle, and only 15.51% 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 4.13 acres. The average size of an agricultural household was 6. 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 2.1, and the average size of a parcel was 1.99 acres. The average cultivation intensity was found to be 0.96. The proportion of land left fallow was about 0.06.
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