Food security Support Programme in the areas affected by cyclone Nargis Funded by the Programmed Food Aid
By Eric Martin – Head of mission TGH Burma
Since cyclone Nargis struck Burma on May 2nd and 3rd 2008, causing the death of more than 120 000 people in the provinces of Ayeryawadi and Yangon, Triangle G H started working in this country on emergency aid (rehabilitation of basic services, access to drinking water), before rapidly shifted towards the boosting of income generating economic activities (agriculture, breeding, fishery, market gardening).
The action of Triangle G H fits in with the thematic of food security and helps boosting economic activities and rebuilding the exchange networks by contributing to the boosting of agriculture in the areas impacted by the cyclone Nargis, to help them recover their capacities of production and have a sufficient harvest in 2009 to reduce the food crisis. In fact, this intervention will, in the end, enable the people impacted by the cyclone Nargis to manage as well as possible the transition between emergency food aid and the phase of stabilization and development coming right after.
These projects, based on a participative approach, consolidated our experience in various fields, and above all it helped us develop a village based approach as well as a strategy aiming at enhancing the production capacities and thus the food self-sufficiency of the targeted populations.
To implement this project, Triangle G H leaned on the experience it acquired during previous projects in Burma and in other countries where it has been operating and had to face similar problems. The evaluation missions carried out end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 by the Triangle G H team, with the help of experts and some members of the headquarters, pointed out several needs: reconstruction, access to drinking water, boosting of farming, fishing, breeding and handicraft activities.
Some of these activities being already covered by specific funding, we focused on the boosting of farming activities, which seemed to us to be crucial and not getting enough support. This is the reason why our thoughts went towards a “farming” type of intervention, associated with the rehabilitation of facilities enabling the transport and thus the improvement of the exchanges between villages, economic bases in the delta region.
An intervention limited, strictly speaking, to the reuse of the farming lands in the delta would have forced us to mainly or even entirely focus on land owners (who have also lost their means of production during the cyclone and play a key part in the economic life of the village) to the detriment of more vulnerable groups of people. Our intervention surely wanted to favour the reuse of lands to increase food production, but it also wanted to target the deprived people most severely hit by the disaster: daily or seasonal workers hired in the rice fields during the rainy season (summer) and having most of the time fishing activities during the dry season (winter) still as daily workers.
In Burma, farmers hire daily workers and pay them with rice and money. Most of the time, these workers receive a salary and some food at the beginning of the farming season, and they receive additional food during the harvest (rice) in proportion to their work and the productivity of the lands.
In May 2009, at the beginning of the seeding season, several difficulties showed up for the delta farmers, and notably the lack of access to rice seeds and to the traditional means of land preparation (lack of cattle, but also incapacity to hire and pay the labour).
In fact, the seeds and rice stocks have been almost totally swept away and destroyed by the cyclone. The food aid programme of the PFA, based on the distribution of food and seeds thus fitted entirely into this logic. The direct beneficiaries (daily workers) were selected in 50 villages targeted during several assessments according to the following criteria: heavily struck by the cyclone, still little or not helped by humanitarian aid organizations, and showing important needs of agriculture boosting.
The Triangle G H team has been divided up into two bases, Laputta and Kungyangon, to cover respectively 45 and 5 villages. 28 people have been hired locally to help organizing the purchases, the follow-up of the distributions and works, as well as to lead the team.
A first phase of discussion with local authorities, village leaders, beneficiaries and farmers enabled us to focus our approach and to optimize the organization of the food distributions.
The programme activities thus started following an agenda respectful of seasonal and farming constraints. The first objective was to boost farming activities by providing food to farmers for them to be able to hire daily/seasonal workers. Relieved from a part of their burden, farmers have been able to use the little money they had to buy seeds and fertilizers to restart the cultivation on the rice fields which had suffered from being flooded by sea water. We can notice that a « money against work » type of intervention could have been even more appropriated, within this context, in some villages, to boost economic activities and exchanges.
A monthly distribution of food intakes (bags of rice, beans, bottles of oil…), calculated according to the number of days worked, has been implemented by Triangle G H team in each village, with the help of the farmers and village leaders. However, the problem of the lack of seeds rapidly showed.
As all of these activities are linked to the water resources, we have also included in the programme a part on the rehabilitation of drinking water sources such as wells and open-air tanks.
At the origin of the project, and because of the available stocks and the help announced by other international agencies, we had not planned to distribute seeds for rice cultivation. The difficulty met by farmers to buy seeds, having lost almost all their resources, and the lack of available seeds on the market have quickly become a problem. Triangle G H team then started a race against time in order to find enough seeds to cover the targeted lands (a difficult mission regarding the current lack of available seeds in great quantities in Burma) and to bring them as soon as possible to the most remote villages of the delta, before the end of the seeding period. The 430 tons of seeds distributed within the frame of this project thus enabled the reuse of more than 4.000 hectares of rice fields, part of the 16.000 hectares of the FFW . The remaining 12.000 hectares received seeds from other organizations or directly by the farmers who could afford it.
Fortified by the success of out farming boosting programme, we were able to start the second activity of rehabilitation of village facilities. Based on the same principle of human resources mobilization (daily workers) paid with food intakes, and supporting the purchase of construction equipment, we have achieved works of rehabilitation of jetties, bridges and roads. All these facilities are linked to the economic activities in the villages, enabling them either to access the fields, either to communicate with other villages and cities where there are markets.
Concurrently of these activities, kits of seeds were distributed, focusing on resource less people having a small parcel of cultivable land, in order to value the latter thanks to the creation of vegetable gardens. Squashes, beans, gumbo, cucumber and other vegetables have thus been cultivated with the addition of fertilizers. We have also decided to distribute “winter” seeds, such as pumpkin, at the end of the project.
As all of these activities are linked to the water resources, we have also included in the programme a part on the rehabilitation of drinking water sources such as wells and open-air tanks. These water sources had been polluted during the cyclone by sea water and alluvial deposits. The 2008 rainy season had not been able to get rid of this pollution, and the 2008 dry season has been much more difficult in terms of drinking water supply. Thanks to the intervention of international aid to solve this problem, and thanks to the 2009 rainy season, the drinking water sources are cleaner nowadays and will help reduce the problems of water supply.
The displacements from one village to the other are mainly done by boat, sometimes by road. During the monsoon, the rain, waves and currents can be dangerous and the teams are sometimes forced to go back from where they came, waiting for a lull. And finally, the coordination between Triangle G H and the other organizations operating in the same area and on similar problems is mainly active at the local level, under the supervision of Burmese authorities.
The food security of the most deprived people has been improved during this farming season 2009, and the 2009 harvest and the 2010 season is partially secured, nevertheless, the food situation in the Ayeyarwady delta is still very precarious, and the mobilization of donors and international organizations must be constant, and staying in touch with the needs of the population.
Cyclone Nargis struck an area until then seldom targeted by humanitarian aid because of its relative prosperity.
Considered to be the « rice loft » of the country, Ayeryawadi has been ravaged by the winds and the rise of the water level. In addition to the human lives devastated by the cyclone, material goods (houses, schools, temples, bridges, jetties, roads, boats) have been destroyed, cattle and flock have been decimated, and fresh water resources have been polluted. The economic activities and networks have collapsed following the loss of the working tools and stocks of raw products. Nature also greatly suffered. The waves and the wind cut off the trees, mangroves have been razed and bits of land, sometimes inhabited, have been swept away.
More than a hundred local and international NGOs, among which figures Triangle G H, came right after the disaster to help the population, and approximately 50 NGOs are still operating in the delta today, more than one year after the disaster.
In 2008, Triangle G H contributed to the restoration of farming, breeding and fishing activities, to the rehabilitation of the access to water and to the reconstruction of facilities in the districts of Laputta and Kungyangon. These projects, based on a participative approach, consolidated our experience in various fields (rice-growing, market-gardening, breeding, fishery in rivers or in the sea, etc.) and above all it helped us develop a village based approach as well as a strategy aiming at enhancing the production capacities and thus the food self-sufficiency of the targeted populations.
Village meeting in Laputta to organize the distributions of rice seeds
Since March 2009, Triangle G H has been implementing a programme funded by the Programmed Food Aid (French MFA), combining the distribution of food products and the support to the boosting of farming activities and to the rehabilitation of village facilities. A complementary part of seeds distribution for family market gardening has also been integrated in this programme.
The programme PFA1 2009 in a few figures (temporary) :
Total amount of the project = 486.000 EUR
Duration of the project : 9 months, from April to December 2009
Intervention in more than 50 villages, representing a population of more than 33.000 inhabitants
Distribution of:
Total amount of the project = 486.000 EUR
Duration of the project : 9 months, from April to December 2009
Intervention in more than 50 villages, representing a population of more than 33.000 inhabitants
Distribution of:
- 10 200 food monthly intake (rice, beans, oil, salt and sugar), representing more than 630 tons of food
- 432 tons of rice seeds
- 5 200 gardening kits (seeds, fertilizers, tools)
- 16 000 hectares of rice fields
- 10 bamboo, wood or concrete bridges
- 20 wood jetties
- 10 km of tracks (draining included)
- 12 water spots (wells and tanks of drinking water)
The action of Triangle G H fits in with the thematic of food security and helps boosting economic activities and rebuilding the exchange networks by contributing to the boosting of agriculture in the areas impacted by the cyclone Nargis, to help them recover their capacities of production and have a sufficient harvest in 2009 to reduce the food crisis. In fact, this intervention will, in the end, enable the people impacted by the cyclone Nargis to manage as well as possible the transition between emergency food aid and the phase of stabilization and development coming right after.
These projects, based on a participative approach, consolidated our experience in various fields, and above all it helped us develop a village based approach as well as a strategy aiming at enhancing the production capacities and thus the food self-sufficiency of the targeted populations.
To implement this project, Triangle G H leaned on the experience it acquired during previous projects in Burma and in other countries where it has been operating and had to face similar problems. The evaluation missions carried out end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 by the Triangle G H team, with the help of experts and some members of the headquarters, pointed out several needs: reconstruction, access to drinking water, boosting of farming, fishing, breeding and handicraft activities.
Some of these activities being already covered by specific funding, we focused on the boosting of farming activities, which seemed to us to be crucial and not getting enough support. This is the reason why our thoughts went towards a “farming” type of intervention, associated with the rehabilitation of facilities enabling the transport and thus the improvement of the exchanges between villages, economic bases in the delta region.
An intervention limited, strictly speaking, to the reuse of the farming lands in the delta would have forced us to mainly or even entirely focus on land owners (who have also lost their means of production during the cyclone and play a key part in the economic life of the village) to the detriment of more vulnerable groups of people. Our intervention surely wanted to favour the reuse of lands to increase food production, but it also wanted to target the deprived people most severely hit by the disaster: daily or seasonal workers hired in the rice fields during the rainy season (summer) and having most of the time fishing activities during the dry season (winter) still as daily workers.
In Burma, farmers hire daily workers and pay them with rice and money. Most of the time, these workers receive a salary and some food at the beginning of the farming season, and they receive additional food during the harvest (rice) in proportion to their work and the productivity of the lands.
In May 2009, at the beginning of the seeding season, several difficulties showed up for the delta farmers, and notably the lack of access to rice seeds and to the traditional means of land preparation (lack of cattle, but also incapacity to hire and pay the labour).
In fact, the seeds and rice stocks have been almost totally swept away and destroyed by the cyclone. The food aid programme of the PFA, based on the distribution of food and seeds thus fitted entirely into this logic. The direct beneficiaries (daily workers) were selected in 50 villages targeted during several assessments according to the following criteria: heavily struck by the cyclone, still little or not helped by humanitarian aid organizations, and showing important needs of agriculture boosting.
Distribution of fruit trees plantations of the FAO
The Triangle G H team has been divided up into two bases, Laputta and Kungyangon, to cover respectively 45 and 5 villages. 28 people have been hired locally to help organizing the purchases, the follow-up of the distributions and works, as well as to lead the team.
A first phase of discussion with local authorities, village leaders, beneficiaries and farmers enabled us to focus our approach and to optimize the organization of the food distributions.
Content of the distributed food intakes (per month and per family)
- 50 kg of white rice
- 5 kg of beans
- 4 litres of groundnut oil
- 830 gr of sugar
- 830 gr of salt
The programme activities thus started following an agenda respectful of seasonal and farming constraints. The first objective was to boost farming activities by providing food to farmers for them to be able to hire daily/seasonal workers. Relieved from a part of their burden, farmers have been able to use the little money they had to buy seeds and fertilizers to restart the cultivation on the rice fields which had suffered from being flooded by sea water. We can notice that a « money against work » type of intervention could have been even more appropriated, within this context, in some villages, to boost economic activities and exchanges.
A monthly distribution of food intakes (bags of rice, beans, bottles of oil…), calculated according to the number of days worked, has been implemented by Triangle G H team in each village, with the help of the farmers and village leaders. However, the problem of the lack of seeds rapidly showed.
As all of these activities are linked to the water resources, we have also included in the programme a part on the rehabilitation of drinking water sources such as wells and open-air tanks.
At the origin of the project, and because of the available stocks and the help announced by other international agencies, we had not planned to distribute seeds for rice cultivation. The difficulty met by farmers to buy seeds, having lost almost all their resources, and the lack of available seeds on the market have quickly become a problem. Triangle G H team then started a race against time in order to find enough seeds to cover the targeted lands (a difficult mission regarding the current lack of available seeds in great quantities in Burma) and to bring them as soon as possible to the most remote villages of the delta, before the end of the seeding period. The 430 tons of seeds distributed within the frame of this project thus enabled the reuse of more than 4.000 hectares of rice fields, part of the 16.000 hectares of the FFW . The remaining 12.000 hectares received seeds from other organizations or directly by the farmers who could afford it.
Fortified by the success of out farming boosting programme, we were able to start the second activity of rehabilitation of village facilities. Based on the same principle of human resources mobilization (daily workers) paid with food intakes, and supporting the purchase of construction equipment, we have achieved works of rehabilitation of jetties, bridges and roads. All these facilities are linked to the economic activities in the villages, enabling them either to access the fields, either to communicate with other villages and cities where there are markets.
Concurrently of these activities, kits of seeds were distributed, focusing on resource less people having a small parcel of cultivable land, in order to value the latter thanks to the creation of vegetable gardens. Squashes, beans, gumbo, cucumber and other vegetables have thus been cultivated with the addition of fertilizers. We have also decided to distribute “winter” seeds, such as pumpkin, at the end of the project.
As all of these activities are linked to the water resources, we have also included in the programme a part on the rehabilitation of drinking water sources such as wells and open-air tanks. These water sources had been polluted during the cyclone by sea water and alluvial deposits. The 2008 rainy season had not been able to get rid of this pollution, and the 2008 dry season has been much more difficult in terms of drinking water supply. Thanks to the intervention of international aid to solve this problem, and thanks to the 2009 rainy season, the drinking water sources are cleaner nowadays and will help reduce the problems of water supply.
The Triangle G H team in a village of Pynsalu
The displacements from one village to the other are mainly done by boat, sometimes by road. During the monsoon, the rain, waves and currents can be dangerous and the teams are sometimes forced to go back from where they came, waiting for a lull. And finally, the coordination between Triangle G H and the other organizations operating in the same area and on similar problems is mainly active at the local level, under the supervision of Burmese authorities.
The food security of the most deprived people has been improved during this farming season 2009, and the 2009 harvest and the 2010 season is partially secured, nevertheless, the food situation in the Ayeyarwady delta is still very precarious, and the mobilization of donors and international organizations must be constant, and staying in touch with the needs of the population.
