[APWW-Meet] MYANMAR: Food shortages

[Roberto Savio <soros@other-net.info>]

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MYANMAR: Food shortages "significant"
IRIN-humanitarian news and analysis
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AYEYARWADY DELTA, 4 August 2008 (IRIN) - Three months after Cyclone
Nargis hit southern Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of people are still
not back on their feet.
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"The situation in Myanmar remains dire," Chris Kaye, World Food
Programme (WFP) country director, said. "The vast majority of families
simply don't have enough to eat."

According to the recent Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA), 42 percent
of all food stocks were destroyed and 55 percent of families only had
stocks for one day or less.=20

Moreover, 924,000 people will need food assistance until the November
harvest this year, while around 300,000 will need relief until April
2009.=20

In June, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that
about 200,000 hectares, or 16 percent, of the delta's total 1.36 million
hectares of agricultural land had been severely damaged in the cyclone
and would "not be available for planting this season".=20

Despite recent efforts to assist local farmers replant their next paddy
crops by end-July, many failed. More than 12 weeks after the cyclone
hit, leaving 140,000 people dead or missing, many farmers continue to
lack the necessary tools or machinery to till the soil after the loss of
thousands of plough animals.
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In mid-July, just as the planting season was coming to a close, the FAO
reported that upwards of 75 percent of farmers in the area lacked
sufficient seeds.
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The government claims 80,000 hectares of paddy fields were not planted
in time, while others estimate that 25 percent of farmers were not able
to plant at all.=20

But even for those who were able to plant, questions remain as to the
quality of seeds, as well as their access to fertilisers, casting doubt
on the likelihood of a successful harvest.=20

One farmer from Bogale, at the southern tip of the delta, told IRIN he
was sure his paddy crop would fail or yield badly, but hoped, with help
from international donors, that his family of six would not starve.=20

Fishermen still lack nets=20

According to the FAO, almost 18,000 fishermen lost their lives in the
cyclone, with another 10,000 still missing. More than 21,000 hectares of
aquaculture ponds were destroyed and more than 2,000 larger mechanised
fishing boats lost.
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Moreover, tens of thousands of non-mechanised boats, accounting for the
livelihoods of thousands of families in the affected area, are believed
to have been lost.=20

Since small-scale fishing is the mainstay activity for so many cyclone
survivors - providing the main source of diet and household income -
many storm-affected families have found it virtually impossible to
continue.=20

The government plans to sell 9,000 boats by installment, of which 3,000
have so far been completed.=20

Difficult choices=20

With 89 percent of PONJA respondents describing food as their highest
priority expenditure, many now find themselves having to make
particularly difficult decisions.=20

"I always wanted them to be educated," one 47-year-old woman from Pyapon
at the southeast part of the delta, one of the worst-hit areas, told
IRIN about her three children. "But now I'm thinking of sending them out
to work to help out instead."=20

Food assistance from donors and the government notwithstanding, many
survivors complain they simply cannot get by on what they receive and
are concerned about where their next meal will come from.
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Others still find themselves forced to borrow money from local money
lenders, increasingly placing them in debt from which they may never
recover. =20
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