* As Myanmar looks to develop, a value-added revolution is needed in the countryside—Mizzima

Backbreaking rice planting in Myanmar - by Hong Sar for Mizzim

The goal of becoming once again the world’s rice basket is wrong: "If Myanmar emerged as the top exporter of rice and if farmers get rich, why not? But if farmers remain poor, what’s the point? … China’s policy is to reduce the rice-growing area. Vietnam has the target of being rice self-sufficient; it also has among the world’s highest use of agro-chemicals. So what if padi production goes down as a result?"

October 31, 2016

* Myanmar: 45 Million Mobile Phones and the $19 3G Smartphone

More than half of those 27 million-plus smartphone owners in Myanmar are regular data users, who check into Facebook daily and the Viber messaging and VOIP app almost as frequently. How can so many people afford phones when the average wage is $3 a day?

October 31, 2016

* Omidyar grant jumpstarts for-profit accelerator in Myanmar—Digital News Asia

Besides Phandeeyar, the eBay founder's "philanthropic investment firm" has given grants to the Open Myanmar Initiative for election monitoring activities, Yangon Journalism Institute and Myitmaklia News Agency. It also supported a Global Witness report on labour conditions in Myanmar jade mines.

August 7, 2016

* Do Myanmar’s Rohingya Really Need Citizenship Now?—Forbes

Back home in Myanmar, fast-track citizenship is unlikely to be a panacea. After all, the 400 Rohingya who have managed to obtain full citizenship still face the same stigma and marginalization that the stateless Rohingya do in Rakhine state. They don't have the same access to jobs, education or housing that the Buddhists of Rakhine do. As long as these conditions persist, Rohingya will seek better lives overseas and take great risks to do so.

July 11, 2015

* Myanmar Digital Startup NEX Wins 2nd Round Funds From Blibros—Forbes

The company is also about to release the Nexy Keyboard, the country’s first iOS 8 keyboard in Myanmar that allows typists to use Roman fonts (“Burglish”) to produce words in Myanmar (Burmese) script.

December 1, 2014