IRIN
MYANMAR: Countdown for planting in cyclone-hit south
30 May 2008


BANGKOK, 30 May 2008 (IRIN) - 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.

Agriculture experts say that in delta's southernmost reaches - the area 
worst affected by the storm - many families were barely producing enough 
rice to feed themselves before the cyclone, as they cultivated marginal 
lands that had once been mangrove forest. As of 30 May, vast areas of 
land remain under water.

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.

In certain areas, households could require special salt-tolerant seeds 
to plant on land that was inundated by sea water during the tidal surge.

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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