Myanmar

A very brief update since our last report at the end of June: for the farm recovery effort we provided a monsoon paddy package of rice seed, access to tillers, fertilizer, etc. to 58,383 families across the hardest hit areas of the delta. We were able to deliver 10,387 metric tons of rice seed directly to 1,197 villages before the planting deadline of 31 July. This was the largest small farm relief effort among all international NGOs, the UN system and the government. Families had absolutely no idea how they were going to eat or what their future was going to be like until the seed arrived. In August we distributed 82,513 bags of fertilizer to the 58,000 families. September and October are the ‘lean food’ months as families wait for the rice harvest in November, so right now we are procuring and distributing critical food rice to 110,480 landless families (over 600,000 people) so they can make it to harvest time. Families in the delta are still in a very precarious condition. Debbie just came back today from a trip to the Delta and heard many, many in-person stories of families going hungry.

We could most definitely use additional funds, if they are available – particularly for landless families in need of emergency food. It costs $11.25 to help one family (of five persons) with enough rice.