Burmese farmers face rice shortage

from The Daily Express

A United Nations agency has warned that time is running out to help Burma's cyclone-stricken farmers plant rice for the next growing season.

Some 52,000 farmers in Burma's storm-hit Irrawaddy delta will be unable to grow a 2008 rainy season rice crop unless they are supplied with farming equipment and seed within the next two months, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

But while failure to do so will pose social and economic problems, it will cause just a 2% shortfall in projected national rice production, much less than previously feared, FAO consultant Albert Lieberg said.

The warning came as more attention is being turned toward recovery and rebuilding after initial emergency relief efforts to help survivors of the May cyclone. More than 78,000 people were killed and another 56,000 are missing.

The FAO's deputy regional representative, Hiroyuki Konuma, said that without external support, the worst-off farmers and fishermen in the Irrawaddy delta "will suffer from hunger and poverty for a long time and they will remain dependent on external aid for a long time."

Mr Lieberg said 52,000 farmers will not be able to plant rice this season if they do not receive immediate aid, meaning that almost 450,000 acres of farmland will go uncultivated. That would mean about half a million metric tons of rice will not be harvested, he said.

Mr Lieberg led a three-week FAO assessment mission in Burma that targeted the worst hit areas of the 11 most severely affected townships. About 70% of land in the 11 townships was submerged in flood water, he said.

He said that that fears over flooding and salinity problems - sea water contaminating the soil - had been exaggerated.