Burma is facing numerous crises at present - the Shan State earthquake, oppression and attack by the Burma Army, and now the failed food crops of Karen State leaving many starving. here is an update by the Partners Karen team.....
“All our ideas of how to fix this situation right now have run out. Please pray for us. Please pray that God will provide for us and our families. If you have friends with means to help us, please tell them.” – A Karen leader
Between 1986 and 1990 the Burma army came up along the Salween River and people from the Mutraw District village tract had to flee whenever the Burma army came. The (Burma Army) did not set up a military position, so after left the area, the village people were able to come back to their villages. Then in 1995 this area became very poor when the Burma Army and their proxies took over the main farming land. The villagers were forced to give up their rice patty fields and many of them moved further into the jungle.
Even the few villagers who stayed no longer owned their fields and were forced to work the land for the profit of the Burma Army & proxies. Those who fled to the jungle have been using a rotating hill crop system. However because there is not enough land, they are replanting land that has not fully recovered, and the crop yields are poor. Then they have also tried going further to plant their crops in land that has not been farmed recently. As the farmers are not able to stay in these fields full time, as they are far from home, the rats and insects destroy the crops while they are away.
These villagers are close to the Burma Army road and outpost and they must travel carefully. “What we need is our staple food: rice. I have seven children. At night when they are sleeping I lie awake thinking, if I can feed them tomorrow, how will I feed them the next day?” - Village headman
Most of the area is covered with hills and valleys, so people are growing rice upland for their living. Previously people mainly depended on rice, the soil in these areas were quite fertile. They also grew crops such as banana, betel leaf, betel nut, tobacco, chili, and vegetable. They raised cattle, pig, goat, and chicken etc.
•Because of SPDC troops occupied some area villagers had to abandon their villages and stay with other villagers doing up land paddy together. The numbers of people increased in the area and upland paddy fields are expected to produce more.
•Soil in the area where people had to abandoned was good for cultivation but the area where people are staying has poor soil for cultivation. Due to land shortages, the land is not given enough time to recover before being used again.
•Last year because of extreme heat and less rain the paddy didn’t grow well, again in harvest time there was a lot of rain and paddy crops were ruined again.
•Paddy crops planted far from homes were eaten and destroyed by insect and rats before harvest time.
•Since 1996 more or less people have been facing a food problem, but this year has had a major impact because of combined problem (less rain, abnormal rain in harvest time, insect and rats destroy
The villagers have been selling their properties to buy rice. Those who have nothing left to sell have been borrowing with a promise to repay in the future. They have also asked for donations from other villages. They rely on the leaders for help, but at this time they are somewhat at a loss.
The long term solutions they are thinking of is growing some other cash crops in the off season of rice that they can sell to buy rice (corn, hot chili peppers, and possibly soy bean).
Our team has already given 100,000 Baht for emergency rice. We will continue to provide relief until our long term plans to assist with targeted agriculture projects and training for rice and cash crops, as well as animal husbandry can be implemented.
Karen Projects Team
