The average American household earns about $56,000 per year and spends only 10% of this income on food. Compare that to developing communities like Myanmar (Burma), where the average income is about $300 per year, and about HALF that is spent on food! In practical terms, this means that the average American household spends more – at 10% of income – on food each month than the average multinational in Myanmar (Burma) earns each year!

The reality is that for the average multinational, so much time is spent on trying to earn enough to eat, that other education and economic opportunity is limited. Often this can lead to exploitation and/or cultural takeovers by corporations or other organizations looking to exploit the population in their time of need.

This is why developing sustainable food sources, and growing independent, local economies is essential. And this is where organizations like NEED Myanmar and the Burma Project come in.

NEED Myanmar works within the local structure of communities to provide real education, in order to help multi-nationals develop their own profitable sustainable agriculture and economies. Because it is locally led and operated, the program enables the communities to maintain their unique identities and to avoid exploitation.

Better Batter partners with these organizations, who are carefully vetted and have accountability to government and third party auditing firms, because they are the most efficient way to ensure our funds are helping the most people, without many of the cultural mis-steps that can occur when outsiders try to ‘help’ bring economic support to other cultures. Our particular partnership at the NEED Myanmar agricultural training center has been focused on mushroom farming. The program is going well, and the school is expanding!

This month, we’re continuing to raise funds for the mushroom project. As high-value sales crops utilizing low cost materials such as compost and manure, mushrooms offer the multinationals in Myanmar (Burma) and excellent opportunity to engage the food system, and the monies raised from the crops help their people develop infrastructure and education.

You can partner with us at checkout to supercharge this project any time at checkout, or you can donate to our project HERE.