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I.
INTRODUCTION
 These guidelines describe how World
Concern Myanmar's (WCM's) projects
work with rural communities to
establish rice banks1. They are
based on 9 years of experience with
over 70 rice banks in Kachin, Shan
and Mon States, combining insights
of field staff and technical staff.
The purpose of these guidelines is
three-fold:
1. to
explain to WCM staff how WCM is
working with communities to
establish and run rice banks, so
that staff who are responsible for
work with rice banks can learn how
to do a good job
2. to
describe what we have learned over
the years, to use this as a basis
for thinking and discussion – these
are not prescriptions that have to
be followed exactly everywhere, but
reflections that can serve as
foundations for improvement
3. to
explain to people outside the
organization how WCM is implementing
rice banks, so that others can learn
from that, apply it in their own
work, and hopefully offer
suggestions back as to how WCM can
make improvements. Naturally, these
guidelines need revision and further
development based on the growing
experience of staff and communities
in implementing rice banks.
I.A.
PURPOSE OF RICE BANKS
WCM helps communities establish rice
banks in order to help address a key
problem of the community, i.e. the
shortage of rice to eat in the
agricultural cultivation season. By
providing a rice bank that is owned
and managed by the community
according to community-defined
regulations, farmers are enabled to
increase paddy production through a
paddy loan in the peak cultivation
season at a reasonable interest
rate.
In many of the rural communities
where WCM works in the North and
East of the country, a large portion
of the households are not able to
produce enough paddy for the family
to eat the whole year. As last
year’s harvest has not been enough,
by the time the new upland or
lowland paddy crop has to be sown,
the household does not have enough
time to spend on their paddy field,
as they need to work for food in
other people’s fields or in other
places.
This leads to a low harvest by the
end of the year. This cycle of low
harvest – labor shortage – low
harvest is very difficult to break
without outside help. The rice bank
offers a way to break out of this
cycle.
Secondary purposes of rice banks
could be (depending on local
circumstances):
• preservation of seed supply for
emergency situations
• to act as a source of capital /
funding for social development
activities in the community.
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