This research highlight analyzes differences in productivity, profitability and labor use for four major crops produced in Myanmar’s Dry Zone, namely monsoon paddy, dry season paddy, sesame, and groundnut, comparing farmers using mechanized land preparation with those using draft animal power alone, and farmers using mechanized harvesting/threshing with those using manual and/or mixed methods. Analysis is based on data collected by the Rural Economy and Agriculture in the Dry Zone survey (READZ) from 1,578 rural households in four townships in Myanmar’s central Dry Zone in 2017 (see Belton et al., 2017). This research highlight summarizes the findings of Mather and Belton (2018).