(1) 706,106 acres in Shan State were distributed among 231,501 holdings. 96.12%% of total holding area
belong to household-based holdings. Most of these land holdings (97.12%) were small farms (under 10 acres in size)
and a large percentage(83.94%) of household-based land holdings were under 5 acres in size.Only 0.04% were
large farms extending over 50 acres and only 0.36% of the household-based land holdings were 20 acres and above in size.
Among special land holdings the majority (81.52%) were large farms (50 acres and above in size)
(2) Slightly more than half of holders were in the age group 25-44 years and the highest number of the holders were in the age-group 25-44 years. The majority (92.22%) were males and only 7.78% were females.
The highest number of male holders were in the age group 35-44 years whereas the highest number of female holders were in the age group 45-54 years.63.69% of all holders had formal schooling which indicates that intensive educational programmes will be needed to increase the percentage of holders with formal schooling so that most of the holders can adopt improved techniques of production and be responsive to effective extension services. 78.78% of the holders worked permanently on holdings and nearly half (48.61%) of the land holders had other sources of income.
(3) 28.95% of holdings employed paid workers, 28.25% employed occasional
workers, and only 3.05% employed permanent workers. Hired labour input was low as the majority of
land holdings (83.91%) were under 5 acres in size,only 53.08% of land holdings were paddy land and a large portion of labour input was supplied by household members. 794,619 person or about 65.94% of household members were of working age (aged 15 years and above)and 703,113 or about 88.48% of them were economically active 66.06% and 29.15% of these economically active household members were permanent and occasional workers on holding respectively. Thus, 95.21% of the economically active household members were farm labour.Only 4.79% of the economically active household members workers worked outside the holding.
Although 28.94% of household-based holdings employed paid workers, 51.61% of special holdings employed paid workers. Only 3.03% of household-based holdings employed permanent workers, but 46.24% of special holdings employed permanent workers. As for occasional workers, household-based holdings employed only 28.24%,but special holdings employed 59.14% Majority of the special holdings were large in size and being run by organizations, were in need of paid workers. But because only 31.52% of special land holdings were paddy land, percentage of special holdings employing paid workers in Shan State was not as high as other States and Divisions with higher percentages of paddy land.
(4) A larger percentage of special land holdings used machinery and equipment
than did household-based holdings. 36.56% of special land holdings used water pumps,
47.83% used tractors, 23.66% used generators/motors, 13.04%,used huller machines, 26.09% used power tillers and 19.57% used other farm machinery.
Among household-based land holdings, 0.20% of holdings used machinery and equipment, water pumps being used by 3.15% of the holdings and huller machines being used by 9.32% of holdings.
75.08% of the household-based land holdings were still using draught animals. Even 81.52% of the special land holdings were found to be using draught animals, indicating the still important role played by the draught animals in agriculture. But, large farms had more advantage to adopt modern farm machinery.
(5) Larger percentage of special land holdings used inorganic and organic fertilizers (88.04% as against 30.22% and 81.52% as against 55.14% ) than household-based land holdings.But, use of inorganic fertilizer was larger than use of organic fertilizer among special land holdings and the reverse was true for household-based land holdings. A larger percentage of special land holdings (63.04% as against 12.99%)used pesticides and HYV seeds (55.43% as against 19.54% ) than household-based land holdings. Roughly, only about two thirds of the special land holdings and not more than one fifth of the household-based land holdings adopted the use of pesticides and HYV seeds. Use of new technical kown-how and modern methods of cultivation was still low in Shan State, especially for household-based holdings with small farms.
(6) Land in Shan State is not mostly rain-fed; the state can enjoy only the last of the monsoon rains which passes other States and Divisions before it reaches Shan State. Therefore, land in the state has to rely on irrigation. 46.17% of household-based land holdings and 38.04% of special land holdings used irrigation. Private canals and rivers/creeks were the important sources of irrigation providing (51.27% and 25.73% of holdings with irrigation) for household-based land holdings. However, government and private canals supply most of the irrigation, providing irrigation to 28.57% and 20.00% of holdings for special land holdings. Also, 15.62% of household-based holdings and 34.29% of special land holdings were provide irrigation by other sources but own wells provided irrigation to only 0.35% of household-based land holdings and 2.86% of special land holdings. With the introdution of summer paddy, mixed and triple cropping demand for water is expected to increase in the future. More use of irrigation and hence provision will then be needed.
(7) 53.08% of all land holdings were Paddy land, 39.01% were Ya land, 20.51% were Garden land and 19.10% were Taungya land .A small percentage of land holdings were Kaing, Rubber and squatter land. Among special holdings, only 31.52% of land holings were paddy land, 84.78% were Ya land and 34.78% were Garden land. Majority of special land holdings were Ya land and majority of household-based land holdings were paddy land. Considerable proportion of household-based land holings were Taungya land and even a few (4.35%) special land holdings were Taungya land.
(8) 92.82% of household-based land holdings and 89.13% of special land holdings grew cereals on 75.79% and 74.96% of total sown area respectively. The second most important crop sown was industrial crops, 24.75% for household-based land holdings and 61.96% for special land holdings.It was followed by tubers and roots (9.38%) for household-based land holdings and pulses (35.87%) for special land holdings. Only 7.30% of household-based land holdings grow pluses. Among cereals, paddy was the main crop sown for household-based land holdings while it was grown by only 43.90% of special land holdings. Other cereals constituted 87.80% of special land holdings. Although the majority (55.25%) of household-based holdings grew industrial permanent crops on 62.61% of total productive area, the majority 61.90% of special holdings grew fruits and nuts on 48.57% of total productive area. Only 32.44% of household-based holings grew fruits and nuts on 19.33% of total productive area and 54.76% of special holdings grew industrial permanent crops on 41.43% total productive area. Thus in terms of total productive area, special holdings grew fruits and nuts and industrial permanent crops nearly the same percentage of acres. Rice production dominated cereal production, 84.14% of total sown area being devoted to rice production, In rice production, area under fine grain Emata rice was 3.77 times that of course grain Ngasein rice.
(9) 75.08% of household-based land holdings and 81.52% of special land holdings used draught animals on their holdings. (66.30% and (31.52%) of special holdings owned cattle and buffaloes respectively. For household-based land holdings (43.21%) owned cattle and 39.50% owned buffaloes. The extensive use of animal power seems to reflect that further efforts were needed to modernize the existing mode of agricultural production. Also, means to help household-based land holdings to own draught animals will be needed so that all the holdings can own draught animals which are still essential in farming.
(10) The average size of an agricultural holding was 3.01 acres. The average household size
of agricultural holdings was 5. Nearly half of household-based Land holdings had other
sources of income. The average number of parcels per household-based land holding was 1.8
and the average size of a parcel was 1.72 acres. The average cultivation intensity
was 1.06. The proportion of land left fallow was 4.94% of all land and 5.54% of arable land 89.15% of all land was arable land among arable land only 11.19% were double/triple cropped.
GO TO HOME GO TO BACK