Understanding Production and Marketing Activities of Contract and Non-contract Sesame Farmers in Aunglan Township, Magway Region

Sesame is mainly grown in the central dry zone of Myanmar, in which, Magway Region occupied the largest sesame sown area for many years. Following the “Informal model” contract agreement among sesame farmers and buyers are practiced in Aunglan Township, Magway Region. This study aimed to explore the production and marketing performances of sesame farmers under contract and non-contract systems in the study area. By using purposive random sampling procedure, a total of 102 sesame farmers in Aunglan Township were interviewed by using structured questionnaires during November and December, 2017. Descriptive statistics and cost and return analysis were applied in this study. These findings indicated that contract farmers were younger and had less farming experiences as compared to non-contract farmers. Contract farmers received credit and market information from more diverse sources and more participated in training, meeting and field demonstration which were mostly related to sesame production practices in comparison with non-contract farmers. Production cost of sesame by contract farmers was higher as compared to non-contract farmers due to their higher usage of farm yard manure, compound fertilizers, gypsum and fungicide. However, it did not affect their returns because contract farmers received better sesame yield in comparison with non-contract farmers. Climate change, labor scarcity, unstable price and high input cost were major constraints for rain-fed dependent sesame farmers. There was still lack of advanced technology in quality checking, grading, thus, technology investment is crucially needed for producing good quality seeds. Sesame farmers should pay attention not only to quality improvement but also to overcoming current constraints along the supply chain. Overall performance in sesame production and marketing of contract farmers showed better in comparison with their counterparts even though current practicing contract system is needed to be systematically organized by learning experiences of other success stories.