International aid agencies, led by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are in a race against time to assist rice farmers in Myanmar's cyclone-devastated Ayeyarwady Delta from missing the planting period for the crucial monsoon paddy season due in the next few weeks.
Aid agencies say getting farmers back on their feet quickly is essential to avoid a protracted food crisis that would affect not just those in the disaster area, but impoverished households throughout Myanmar.
The FAO says the window is only a few weeks to start planting to ensure at least a partial harvest in the delta.
"Our top priority is to have the rice crop in during the month of June, so there will be at least some rice harvest before the end of the year and the pressure will be off on food aid needs," Diderik de Vleeschauwer, an FAO spokesman, told IRIN.
"If they cannot plant, the country will have a shortage of rice, and be reliant on food aid beyond the emergency relief phase," he said.
The Ayeyarwady Delta has long been Myanmar's most important rice-growing area, accounting for about 65 percent of total annual rice production.
But most farming families lost all their seeds, fertiliser and livestock when cyclone Nargis struck on 2 and 3 May, leaving them without the basics for planting.
However, not all surviving farmers in the area will be able to return to rice cultivation this season – if ever.
 Photo: NASA/IRIN  |
| The Ayeyarwady delta, the richest rice-growing region in the country, was devastated by the cyclone |
However, International Development Enterprises (IDE), an international NGO working to boost agricultural productivity in the area, estimates that around 150,000 households on good paddy land are ready to plant rice immediately - given the resources and implements.
The FAO, agriculture ministry, IDE and other organisations are now scurrying to obtain and distribute appropriate seeds and fertiliser, as well as Chinese-made, hand-held tillers to replace lost animals that once ploughed the fields, thereby hopefully reducing the need for food aid.
"We are madly rushing," said Debbie Aung Din, country director for the group. "The latest they can plant is 30 July, but they are going to have to prepare their land right now. It's a matter of getting seed into their hands, as well as help with tilling."
For its part, the FAO is analysing soil types and testing seeds to ensure the seeds distributed that are appropriate for the land. "You cannot just dump seeds somewhere on a village," De Vleeschauwer said.
 Photo: REUTERS/International Federation |
| Thousands of IDPs are still awaiting help almost four weeks after the cyclone struck |
According to the FAO, about 700,000 hectares of paddy fields – or 20 percent of the delta's total paddy land – may need rehabilitation.
Aung Din estimates the cost of replacing lost farming inputs at around US$300 per family, but says "it's much more costly to feed people".
Money, however, is not the only obstacle to ensuring planting gets under way.
"It's a logistical challenge – it's a narrow window and you are moving big, bulky things," she says. "It's not only a race against time, but they all need it at the same time."
Yet the cost of failure could be significant.
On 23 May, the FAO warned that Myanmar's "already severe food security situation" had worsened since the cyclone, with rice prices doubling in many parts of the country, and the price of other food staples, such as cooking oil and eggs, also rising.
Poor families in Myanmar spend an estimated 60 to 70 percent of their household income on food, which gives them very little margin to cope with a sharp rise in food prices.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
