"For years, Burma?s military exercised tight controls over the politically sensitive rice trade to ensure a steady supply of affordable rice in the cities and to collect the foreign exchange generated by rice exports. Its interventions into the grain trade – which began as part of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" crafted by the eccentric former dictator, Ne Win - depressed prices paid to farmers, devastating rice production in what was once the "rice basket of Asia". The military regime that followed Ne Win clung to the controls because they feared that rice shortages would trigger urban unrest. Burma?s generals decided only last year to get out of the rice trade, relinquishing what it called "the last remnant" of the old economic order. It hoped that rice production would surge if farmers received more attractive prices for their crop. However, yielding to market forces is proving tough action for the generals to take, highlighting the difficulties resuscitating a gasping economy. Last April, the regime declared an end to its direct procurement of paddy from farmers at fixed prices. It later said civil servants and soldiers would no longer be given rice but would get cash allowances to buy it. The junta also decided to permit private rice exports, ending its long monopoly over the small but essential international rice trade..."