The people of these 30 villages of Mara areas of Matupi Township, Chin state, Burma will not have sufficient crops for their families from jhum production this year.

“The local people are worried about their survival because the grains are not good for harvest from their jhums,” said a local from Lailenpi village.

He added that only two families of Lailenpi village will get rice from their farm out of 200 households in the village.

“In our villages farm paddy is becoming dry, so we will not get rice enough this year from our paddy fields,” said a Zua Mang villager.

The affected areas of Chin state received some help during the famine by some Non-Governmental Organizations from 2006 to 2010.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its survey in July this year said that Chin State remains the poorest state of Burma with 73.3% per cent of the people below the poverty line. Khonumthung news