U Than Hla and his friend U Tin Ngwe are farmers from Kyon Thin village. Both men enjoyed a relatively comfortable existence before Cyclone Nargis.
The cyclone killed 90 percent of livestock and destroyed almost all agricultural equipment in the delta region. In addition, the vast majority of arable land was flooded with sea water which rendered much of it unusable.
"I lost all my oxen, a pump and tractor during Nargis and my farm plots were flooded with salt sea water,” said U Than Hla. “That was in early May and there was very little time left before we needed to start planting seeds again. I had to pump out sea water from my paddy fields, prepare the land and plough it in time to start sowing. If we didn’t finish in time, we would have lost the next harvest. But we had no equipment or animals to help with this process.”
U Tin Ngwe was one of 1,000 farmers to receive assistance from International Development Enterprises, through a project funded by IR. IDE has supported rice farmers in Kyon Thin village by providing them with six tractors, as well as distributing fertilizer, diesel and high-quality seeds to every farmer.
Concentrating on survival
"After the disaster we had no means to start farming again. In fact we did not even have food and other necessary items to ensure our survival. During that time we had to forget about farming and concentrate on survival," said U Tin Ngwe.
"But the support we received from IDE and Islamic Relief meant we were able to prepare our fields in time and so we won’t miss out on next season’s harvest. We can also pay our neighbours, who need an income, to work in the fields.
"After the harvest, we will be able to stand on our own feet and will not need any more assistance. We can't find words to express our thanks to IDE and Islamic Relief for their help," said U Tin Ngwe who is now back at work in the paddy fields with U Than Hla.