The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has provided loans to farmers in a Myanmar cyclone-hit area to help them in their rehabilitation work including recultivation, the local weekly Voice reported Sunday.
A loan of 200,000 kyats (170 U.S. dollars) was extended to each farmer in Bogalay, one of the hard-hit townships in Ayeyawaddy delta, the report quoted the UNDP as saying.
So far, farmers in 70 villages in the township have been so provided as the first phase with 148 villages to follow suit, the report said.
A month after the storm, survived farmers in a number of cyclone-hard-hit townships in Ayeyawaddy and Yangon divisions, including Kungyangon, Laputta, Ngaputtaw, Mawlamyinegyun, Bogalay and Dedaye, have started ploughing monsoon paddy using powered tillers provided in place of storm-swept draught cattle.
With the contribution of the government and local and international donors, storm victims have initially restored their agricultural farming and fisheries undertakings with nearly 1,400 domestically-donated draught buffaloes and cows having been distributed to the cyclone-hit areas for the recultivation.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states - Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
A joint assessment report of Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations (UN) estimated the total damage and losses due to the cyclone storm at 4.4 to 4.5 trillion Kyats ( 4.02 to 4.13 billion U.S. dollars).
The loss in agricultural production were extensive and greatly affected the population in the delta, the assessment report said, adding that the cyclone caused flood of over 600,000 hectares of farmland, killing up to 50 percent of draught cattle, destroying fishing boats and sweeping away food stocks and agricultural implements.
The preliminary recovery needs will be at over one billion dollars over the next three years, the report assessed.
The storm has killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.
Source:Xinhua
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