Food systems transformation, animal-source foods consumption, inequality, and nutrition in Myanmar

Abstract

This study traces the consumption of animal-source foods (ASF) during a period of rapid economic change and food system transformation in Myanmar. We use data from two nationally representative consumption surveys conducted in 2010 and 2015 and food composition tables to estimate the contributions of ASF to estimated average requirements (EARs) of key nutrients among population subgroups differentiated by geography and economic status. We find: (1) Little change in the average quantity of ASF consumed per individual, but substantial changes in the composition of the ASF consumed. (2) Increasing rural–urban and income-linked inequality in quantities of ASF and associated nutrients consumed. (3) Declines in the adequacy of intakes of five out of eight micronutrients (calcium, iron, zinc, thiamine, vitamin B12) and small increases in two (selenium and vitamin A), due to the changing composition of ASF; most importantly, reductions in the supply of diverse aquatic foods from capture fisheries and increasing availability of intensively reared chicken. (4) Elevated levels of ASF-derived total fat and sodium consumption among better-off consumers, suggesting an emerging triple burden of malnutrition. We review the implications of these results for food security, nutrition-sensitive policies and interventions beyond Myanmar.

Everyday aquatic food system transformations in Myanmar

“…Changing fish trade practices 4 106 107 4.1. ), is indicative of the importance of fish -both wild caught and farmed -in the diets of consumers in Yangon and throughout Myanmar (Scott et al 2023). San Pya's location on the edge of Ayeyarwady Delta and its transport connections to the rest of the country also make it the ideal site to examine changing practices associated with the transition from capture to farmed fish.…”

“…Similarly, Chapter 4 described changes in the trading practices that respond to but also shape demand for fish in urban settings. For instance, the practices of sourcing, processing, and selling fish by wholesalers is embedded in wider changes in urban settings, such as the emergence of convenience in urban lifestyles reflecting changing working schedules and the accompanying emergence of aquatic food-based urban cuisines that reflect but are different to rural aquatic food cuisines (Khaing et al 1975;Scott et al 2023). Understanding how these practices shape wider demand for aquatic food challenges the conceptualising of consumption and trade as discrete activities (HLPE 2017;Béné et al 2019b).…”

“…Transformations towards sustainable aquatic food systems have primarily focused on technological interventions to production, such as the intensification and expansion of aquaculture in response to 'declining fisheries' (Williams 1996;Garlock et al 2020). This emphasis on aquaculture, as reflected in both research and development policy (Short et al 2021;Cisneros-Montemayor et al 2021;Crona et al 2021), has drawn attention away from the wider set of practices that shape food system outcomes -including food and nutrition security (see Bogard et al 2017;Scott et al 2023), social equity (see Adduci 2009;Saguin 2016;Campbell 2019), and environmental sustainability (see De Silva 2012;Edwards 2015). This is especially evident in regions such as Southeast Asia, and countries such as Myanmar, where drivers for the expansion of aquaculture continue to be framed in productivist terms rather than being seen as a function of changes to the role aquatic foods play in everyday production, trade and consumption practices.…”

“…The country is also an exceptional case because the expansion of aquaculture is driven almost solely by the expansion of the domestic market (Tezzo et al 2018). Finally, the case of Myanmar is exceptional because of the ongoing and explicit use of aquatic productivism as a means of achieving food and nutrition security, as well as social equity (Tezzo et al 2018;Scott et al 2023). In summary, the prominence of food fish in the everyday lives of people in Myanmar combined with the scale of the social transformations at play offer an opportunity to develop a sociological perspective on aquatic food systems transformation and opportunities for rethinking pathways for achieving normative ambitions for aquatic foods, namely food and nutrition security, but also social equity, all within environmental limits.…”

“…Despite the considerable attention to aquaculture by these development organizations, concern has been raised that freshwater fisheries, although of ongoing importance for food security, continue to be overlooked (Tezzo et al 2017;Campbell 2019). Concerns have also been raised on the availability of aquaculture-produced fish to poorer populations as farmed fish make an increasingly larger proportion foods traded across the country (see Scott et al 2023). The balance between wild-caught and farmed production has also raised questions about the resilience of an overall availability of aquatic foods given that the aquaculture production in Myanmar is poorly diversified, with the indigenous carp -rohu, constituting roughly 70% of production (Belton et al 2015;Tezzo et al 2018).…”