A MYANMAR BREAKFAST: THE COUNTRY, THE EATING HABITS,
AND DAILY LIFE OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE
Presented by The Metta Development Foundation at the German Agro Action (dwhh) World Breakfast Public Awareness Campaign, Bonn.
28 June, 2002.
Myanmar* Today
Myanmar is a rich country in terms of arable land and natural resources, but it is one of the least developed countries in the world.
Myanmar is a predominantly agricultural country where about two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for its livelihood. Nonetheless, it is a country where part of the population
cannot count on access to wholesome food.
Why?
During the second world war, the country was a battlefield between the receding British and the advancing Japanese. After the war, during which much of the infrastructure was destroyed, Myanmar gained independence but an internal armed struggle developed between the central government, the communists, and various different minority groups who were not adequately represented in the government. Most of these civil conflicts, some of which lasted for 50 years, have been terminated with ceasefire agreements within the past 10 years. Reconstruction following this civil warfare has only just begun.
Across the country the way of life is, in comparison to Europe, quite modest, the use of technology is rare, and the eating habits are similar.
The basic foodstuff is rice, either so-called wet rice, which is planted in the plains and irrigated, with traditionally rich harvests, or dry rice, which is planted on the hill sides where the agricultural conditions are less favourable and the harvests more subject to uncertain weather conditions.
