UN says aid needed urgently for Myanmar farmers, though situation better than feared

YANGON, Myanmar - A United Nations agency warned Wednesday that time is running out to help Myanmar's cyclone-stricken farmers plant rice for the next growing season, even though damage to the nation's rice bowl is less than originally feared.

Some 52,000 farmers in Myanmar's storm-stricken 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 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said.

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

The warning came as more attention is being turned toward recovery and rebuilding after initial emergency relief efforts to help survivors of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis, which Myanmar's ruling junta says killed more than 78,000 people and left another 56,000 people missing.

In Bangkok, 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."

"Time is not on our side," he said, urging the adoption of FAO-drafted emergency assistance and rehabilitation programs budgeted at a combined US$83 million. "We have to take action. We cannot delay."

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 (183,000 hectares) of farmland will go uncultivated. That would mean about half a million metric tons of rice will not be harvested, he said.

The projected shortfall would be about 2 percent of the country's annual production, he said, less than original estimates based on extrapolation. The greater delta area is generally estimated to produce more than 60 percent of the country's rice.

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

"We have seen areas where it is very difficult to get physically and where few have been," Lieberg said.

He told reporters that that fears over flooding and salinity problems _ sea water contaminating the soil _ had been exaggerated.

"The real dimension of the issue is much smaller than thought in the beginning," he said.

Most flooding beyond what is normal for the area's rice paddies had receded within 12 hours of the initial storm surge, said Lieberg.

Salt water from the surging sea was diluted because the soil was already wet when the storm struck, and heavy rains in the cyclone's aftermath acted as a cleanser.

Lieberg also said that his team estimated that about 30,000 people involved in fishing activities had died as a result of the cyclone. The group has been generally overlooked because of concern over farm production.

However, some of the worst fears concerning the aftermath of the storm seem to have been proven groundless.

Though supplies of food and shelter remain short in many affected areas, there apparently has been no "second wave" of deaths due to disease, malnutrition and exposure after the original casualties caused by the storm.

The U.N. World Health Organization in a report issued at the beginning of June cited an assessment by the U.N. Children's Fund _ UNICEF _ of conditions in hard-to-reach areas outside the town of Bogalay, one of the areas worst affected by the storm.

It quoted the assessment as saying "there were no post-cyclone deaths in any of the villages assessed," as well as no signs of acute malnutrition. It also said suitable sources were found for clean water.

While the situation on the ground doesn't appear as bad as once feared, many survivors are still shaken by the cyclone and rumors have been spreading fast that more natural disasters will strike the country.

The military government warned Wednesday that the rumors were the work of its enemies seeking to create panic.

A commentary in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, which is generally regarded as a government mouthpiece, said people unhappy with the country's achievements were predicting floods, earthquakes and other calamities at a time when some well-known astrologers were actually making upbeat predictions for the nation's future.

Many people in Myanmar are superstitious and seek advice from fortune tellers and astrologers.

"The rumormongers are none other than a group of certain destructive elements who are not happy with the significant success the nation has achieved, resulting from the efforts of the State, the people and the Tatmadaw (military) have been making in concert," said a commentary in Wednesday's edition.

"Destructive elements" and similar phrases are usually used in the state press to refer to the country's pro-democracy movement and other critics of the military regime.

"People should be well aware of the fact that there are those who are creating unrest by spreading groundless rumors with ulterior motives," the commentary warned.

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