Coffee Products: Value Chains For Rural Development Project In Myanmar

Local coffee roasters who participated in USAID activities celebrated their achievements throughout the program in Yangon, Wednesday.

In 2013, U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID launched 27 million USD Value Chains for Rural Development Project in Myanmar together with Myanmar Coffee Association and Winrock International as the technical team.

The project aims to promote Myanmar's transition to a more inclusive and open economy, to increase bilateral trade and investment as well as to encourage local private enterprises in the coffee sector to the world class coffee for Myanmar consumers and for export.

Chairman, Myanmar Coffee Association, Myo Aye said “After about 4 or 5 years, Myanmar coffee industry is well-developed in a certain level of quality, market linkage and capacity building with the support of Myanmar Coffee Association and USAID…Coffee lovers like Myanmar coffee because we produce very good quality under very good technology and very good treatment. So, we can export to international also.”

Trainings, technical assistances and links for sustainable development of Myanmar coffee industry were provided through the program. About 6000 farmers, producers, traders, coffee shop owners and many other stakeholders participated in the project. Ywa Ngan township was one of the chosen areas to be part of the project. 

Vice Chairperson, Ywangan Amayar Co. Ltd., Su Su Aung said “Ywangan mainly produces Arabica coffee. Each household has a coffee farm in Ywangan. Good value chain - good farming practice, good quality production and consumer demand are all needed for coffee sector development. The VCRD project provides support for the whole value chain of Myanmar coffee industry.”

Currently, Myanmar coffee is being exported to 16 countries including countries in Europe, Asia, UAE and the United States.