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The Development of the Burmese Rice Industry in the Late Nineteenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Cheng Siok Hwa
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Extract

From prehistoric times rice (oryza sativa linn) has been cultivated in Burma but it was only about a century ago that Burma began to develop into the chief rice-exporting country of the world. Up to about the middle of the nineteenth century rice was cultivated mainly for home consumption and for a small, irregular internal trade mainly from Lower to Upper Burma. The earliest account we have of Burma's external rice trade is probably the one by Duarte Barbosa who mentioned that much rice was shipped from Pegu to Malacca and Sumatra in the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that time Pegu was an independent kingdom peopled by Mons (known also as Talaings or Peguans). Their kings appeared to have viewed trade in a more favourable light than did the Burmans for during their time trade was much less hampered than after Pegu became subject to the Burmans.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1965 , pp. 67 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1965

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References

1. Barbosa, Duarte, A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century (London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1866), p. 183.Google Scholar

2. The Burmans ruled the delta intermittently from the eleventh century onwards. The most recent periods before the British conquest were in the second half of the sixteenth century and from 1757 to 1852.

3. Hall, D.G.E., “Studies in Dutch Relations with Arakan,” Journal of the Burma Research Society, Vol. XXVI (Rangoon, 1936), pp. 11–16.Google Scholar

4. Harvey, G.E., History of Burma from the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1925), p. 146.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., p. 350. These ideas are somewhat similar to the ideas underlying the Mercantilist Theory. In the barter economy of Burma rice was the most important commodity as it served as a medium of exchange besides that of staple food; it was also used to pay rents, wages and taxes.

6. This is equivalent to slightly less than Rs. 3 per 100 baskets, which is a ridiculously low price compared with later prices. (See below p. 73). The common practice in Burma is to quote prices by the 100 baskets, the standard, nine-gallon government basket containing approximately 46 lbs. of padi and 75 lbs. of rice.

7. Hall, D.G.E., Europe and Burma (London: Oxford University Press, 1945), p. 13.Google Scholar

8. Harvey, op. cit., pp. 180–81 and pp. 234–36.Google Scholar

9. Furnivall, J. S., An Introduction to the Political Economy of Burma (Rangoon: Burma Book Club, second revised edition, 1938), p. 48.Google Scholar

10. The British Burma Gazetteer, compiled by H.R. Spearman (Rangoon, 1880), Vol. I, p. 460.Google Scholar

11. The, padi-growing districts in Upper Burma are Mandalay, Kyaukse, Minbu and Meiktila districts where most of the crop is grown under canal irrigation; Shwebo and Yamethin districts where half the crop is grown under irrigation; Pakokku, Sagaing, Bhamo, Katha and Upper Chindwin districts where about two-thirds of the crop is rainfed; and Thayetmyo, Lower Chindwin and Myitkyina districts where the crop is almost entirely rainfed; Grant, J. W.. The Rice Crop in Burma: Its History, Cultivation, Marketing and Improvement (Rangoon: Government Printing and Stationery, reprint 1949), p. 7.Google Scholar

12. Pearn, B.R., “The Commercial Treaty of 1862,” Journal of the Burma Research Society Vol. XXVII, Part I (Rangoon, 1937), p. 33.Google Scholar

13. This exemption was withdrawn when Upper Burma was taken over by the British in 1886.

14. Hall, D.G.E., A History of Southeast Asia (London: Macmillan, 1958), p. 650.Google Scholar

15. Report of the Burma Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee, 1929–10 Vol. I, pp. 78–79, 234 and 344.Google Scholar

16. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 67.

17. Gyi, U Tin, Report of the Original Settlement Operations in the Labutta Township of the Myaungmya District, Season 1924–25 (Rangoon: Govt. Printing and Stationery, 1926), pp, 10–11.Google Scholar

18. Pattle, E.G., “Some Factors Affecting the Economic Position of Agriculturists,” Agriculture in BurmaGoogle Scholar; a collection of papers written by government officials for the Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1926–28 (Rangoon: Government Printing and Stationery, 1927), p. 113.

19. Grantham, S.G., Report on the Settlement Operations in the Myaungmya District, 1916–19 (Rangoon: Govt. Printing and Stationery, 1920), pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

20. Grant, J.W., op. cit., p. 55.Google Scholar

21. Proctor, H.B., Rice: Its History, Culture, Manufacture, and Food Value (London: W. Dunham, 1882), p. 12.Google Scholar

22. The U.S., together with Spain and Italy, became established again in the rice market of Europe just after the First World War. Report of the Rice Export.

23. Trade Enquiry Committee (Rangoon: G.P.S., 1937), p. 8.Google Scholar

24. Rice from the field has to undergo several milling processes before it is ready for consumption. Below is a list of terms given to rice at different stages of preparation:

(1) “Padi” is rice with the husk intact.

(2) “Husked rice” or loonzein is rice from which the husk only has been removed. The bran layers and the greater part of the germ are retained.

(3) “Milled rice” is rice from which the husk, most of the bran layers and the greater part of the germ have been removed by power machinery. At this stage rice is ready for consumption. Rice is milled to varying degrees; if milled to a high degree it is called “white rice.”

(4) “Polished rice” is produced by further milling of white rice to improve its appearance by having it polished, glazed and sometimes oiled.

(5) “Cargo rice” is a mixture of loonzein and partially milled rice with up to 20 per cent padi.

25. The Burma Rice Trade (Rangoon, 06 1928)Google Scholar Typescript found in the history file of Messrs. Steel Brothers & Co. Ltd., p. 1.

26. Quoted by Ingram, J.C., Economic Change in Thailand Since 1850 (Stanford University Press, 1955), p. 41.Google Scholar

27. Grant, J.W., op. cit., p. 32.Google Scholar

28. Burma Rice (“Burma Pamphlet No. 4”; London: Longmans Green & Co., Ltd., 05 1944), p. 13.Google Scholar

29. In 1861 there was only one rice mill in Burma; in 1871, 21 mills; 1881, 49 mills; 1891, 52 mills; and 1901, 97 mills. Annual Reports on the Administration of Burma.

30. Christian, J.L., Modern Burma (Berkely: University of California Press, 1942), p. 136.Google Scholar

31. Baxter, James, Report of the Commission of Inquiry Appointed to Examine the Question of Indian Immigration into Burma (Rangoon: G.P.S., 1941), p. 54.Google Scholar

32. No figures are available for the nineteenth century. Figures obtained from the Census Report of 1931 reveal that the number of Indians engaged in agriculture amounted to 20.7 per cent of the total number of Indians in the country in that year. The percentage for the nineteenth century would certainly be much lower for there was a keen demand for labour in the towns whereas by 1931 unemployment among Indian labourers in the urban centres had become fairly acute.