A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement s for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning

The research deals with the role of local institutions for Agricultural Development in Myanmar. The objective o f the research were t o study and analyze the roles and responsibilities of local institutions working for agriculture development , t o assess the expectation of villagers against the services delivered to them and benefits gained by the people , t o analyze t he strength and weakness of local institutions and t o develop a framework and suggestion for guiding local institutions for agriculture development. The scope of the study was three villages of Kyaikmaraw T ownship, Mon State, Myanmar where local institutio ns are operating their functions for agricultural development . These villages are Myan Kone, Chan Kone and Oo To Chaung villages. In Mya Kone village, study has been conducted to examine the role s of Agrochemical company outlet on agr icultural development. . The study has also been conducted in Chan Kone village to analyze the role s of CDRT project on agricultural development. Additionally, research has been conducted in Oo To Chaung village to examin e the roles of Myanma Agricultural Development Bank. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data from beneficiaries of local institutions. Moreover, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observation have been applied. The research focused on both qualitative and quantitative tec hniques. The main findings of this research show the role of CDRT project is more prominent than other local institutions. Services provided by CDRT project can help farmers more effectively because they acknowledge local participation in project implement ation. Although Myanma Agricultural Development Bank and Agrochemical company outlet provided their services directly to farmers, CDRT project facilitated villagers to form Community Based Organization which are the basic foundation for sustainability. Aft er the formation of Community Based Organization, support services from CDRT project were provided through Community Based Organization. CDRT project also practice bottom up implementation approach and project facilitated farmers to do need identification since the beginning of project intervention.Although these local institutions are implementing in the same township for agricultural development, each institution has its own implementation system. Coordination among the local institutions to discuss abou t the agricultural development of farmers is unusual. As a result, services provided by the local institutions were overlapped at the same village. Certain recommendations were made to enhance the role of local institutions to improve the agricultural dev elopment. Services should be provided based on the needs of farmers and the implementation process should be user friendly. Implementation of local institution should be done by forming the strong community based organizations for transparency and sustain ability arrangement. Collaboration and cooperation among the local institutions should be done to avoid the overlapping of services and to implement more effectively.

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2013