New Delhi – Though the monsoon rice plantation season is coming to an end, farmers in cyclone-hit Bogale and Labutta Townships have been unable to sow paddy.
Only one third of the farmers from Bogale could revert to farming but most of the others cannot go back to agricultural activities because of lack of capital and farming equipment. Similarly most farmers in Labutta Township could not till their lands due to lack of farm labour because of death of family members.
"Time is running out for this monsoon's plantation season. But two thirds of the farmers in Bogale township cannot till their farms due to lack of money and farming equipment," a paddy merchant from Bogale said.
Farmers in many of these areas are depressed, unable as they are to revert to agricultural activities rendering them unemployed. Many have moved to towns to take up odd and menial jobs, a farmer from Bogale said.
A farmer in Myikakone village, Bogale Township who lost his wife and two children said, "My entire house including the post was washed away. Now I have no place even to lie down, let alone till my paddy field".
Most farmers in Labutta are facing scarcity of farm labour. Only one survived in some families during the cyclone. They have lost interest in work in paddy fields, and are still mourning the loss of family members, a farmer from Labutta said.
"Earlier, entire family members worked in the fields. Now I don't want to go back to my fields," a father of a lone surviving daughter said.
After the deadly Cyclone Nargis, some are suffering from trauma and anxiety disorder. These people lost their homes and families in the cyclone. They are apprehensive of another cyclone, a local Labutta resident said.
Ashley Clements, an official of an INGO, 'World Vision' told Mizzima that as 60% of the farmers from Bogale and Labutta cannot work again in their fields. It is important to feed them and rehabilitate them.
"The most important thing is to set up self-reliance projects and creating job opportunities for them," he said.
The government is selling hand tractors to the farmers in three installments. But these hand tractors have not yet reached all the farmers.
The sale of these tractors is being arranged by the Rice Millers' Association. To get these tractors, the farmers had to produce documents related to housing plot lease grant, land lease grant, garden lease grant and recommendation from their village administrative office.
"I came here for the tractor but I didn't get it as I could not produce the required documents ," a farmer from Setsan village, Bogale said.
Most of the farmers from remote rural areas do not have these documents and they were disappointed when they could not get the tractors, he added.
