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昨日头条：飓风成行再次肆虐缅甸
今日头条：Myanmar Farmers May Miss Harvest
缅甸农民可能错失收获
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: May 16, 2008
A boy shielded himself with a leaf during a heavy rain storm on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, on Thursday.
YANGON, Myanmar — Normally, at this time of year, Burmese farmers in the southern delta of Myanmar would be draining their rice paddies, plowing their fields with their water buffaloes and preparing to plant new seeds for an autumn harvest.
But two weeks ago, Cyclone Nargis did away with all that. The storm’s timing could not have been worse. Tens of thousands of farm families lost their draft animals, their rice stocks and their planting seeds. Now the harvest is in doubt as well.
“I think we’re going to miss it, we’re going to miss the harvest,” said Hakan Tongul, deputy country director for the World Food Program in Myanmar. “Time is short.”
Mr. Tongul and other international aid experts with long experience in Myanmar fear that the cyclone has disrupted the seasonal cycle of life in the Irrawaddy Delta, once one of the world’s most fertile and important rice-growing regions.
Delta farmers lost 149,000 water buffaloes, said Brian Agland, the country director for CARE, and it will be impossible to replace them in time for the plowing season. Instead, CARE and other aid groups will most likely be buying what the locals call “iron buffaloes” — small red tractors made in China that go for about $1,000 apiece.
Huge deliveries of new rice seeds are needed, too. Thailand is the likely source for the seeds, Mr. Tongul said. Traditionally, delta farmers have used seeds from rice grown the year before.
New livestock — pigs, ducks, chickens and fish fingerlings in addition to buffaloes — and seeds are among the priority items for aid groups working in rural development in the delta. “The agricultural cycle is so critical,” Mr. Agland said Thursday. “We’ve got to avoid a hunger gap, and we’ve got very little time.”
Aid officials continued to express concern about the government’s reluctance to let in assistance. “They’re restricting, they’re hiding, they’re not allowing us to import, almost nothing,” Mr. Tongul said. “I need 50,000 tons of rice to feed people for the next six months. I’ve got 3,000 on hand. This is what keeps me awake at night.”
“The death toll is quite high, and I don’t know if we’ll ever find out the real number. The focus now is stopping more deaths.”
最后由 满满的一碗 于 2008-05-16 08:38:43编辑 |
My family are farmer, it's really hard work. So I really sorry about this sad issue.
