Shan Household, Agriculture and Rural Economy: Household Survey – May-October 2018. HESTIA Upload

Abstract

The Shan Household, Agriculture and Rural Economy Survey (SHARES) was implemented from June to October 2018. SHARES was comprised of household and community components, designed to produce a detailed picture of livelihoods, farming systems and the rural economy in southern Shan, and the dynamics of recent changes in each of these areas. Particular attention was paid to production of maize and pigeon pea - two of the main commercial crops grown in this area. The surveys were designed to address four key research questions. (1) How has the welfare of rural households in South Shan been affected by the introduction of hybrid maize? (2) What factors have facilitated agricultural commercialization, diversification and, specialization, and how have these processed affected incomes, food security and resilience? (3) How do conflict, infrastructure development, trade policies and agricultural commercialization interact? (4) What practices could improve the performance of maize and pigeon pea farmers? For the household component of the survey, a total 1563 households were interviewed in 99 enumeration areas in 9 townships in southern Shan, representing a population of 201,285. Enumeration areas were selected by a stratified two-stage sampling. Areas with known security issues or no maize/pigeon pea cultivation were excluded. The Department of Population drew a systematic sample of Enumeration Areas (EA) with probability proportional to size, using the sample frame of national census. The household survey instrument include modules on the following: non-farm employment; migration; assets & housing; land; agriculture; maize and pigeon pea cultivation; agricultural machinery use, credit; consumption. The SHARES community component covered 323 villages in 12 townships in Southern Shan. Ninety-nine of the selected villages overlapped with the enumeration areas selected for inclusion in the SHARES household survey. The remaining 224 community survey villages were selected randomly with probability proportional to size. Community questionnaires were administered during group interviews. The survey instrument focused on capturing multi-year recall data on key community characteristics, and was divided into modules covering population, physical and social infrastructure, crop cultivation patterns, agricultural wages and migration, number and type of rural enterprises, access to credit, perceptions of climate change, and experience of conflict. This approach was adopted to gain insights into changes occurring within the rural economy at the ‘landscape’ level that would complement ‘micro’ level data from the household survey.