Villagers in an displaced camp in Myitkyina Township are facing additional hardships after drought led to the loss of ten acres of rice.

”They were expecting something from their rotational farm, but they got nothing. After losing everything this year, their hope is also gone,” the head of the Kambudam internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp near Namkwi village told KNG.

“The weather wasn’t good enough this year… After the rice plants sprouted, there was a drought and they couldn’t grow,” he said about the communal farm that’s managed by the 43 people from 14 families living in the camp.

They’ll need financial support to survive. The camp leader explained that they cannot look for work outside the camp because COVID-19 is still a big problem. Some donations reach the camp, but this isn’t enough for the IDPs who need food but also medicine and health care.

They fled their village Rawang Kong in Tanai Township in 2017 after fighting started between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burma Army along Lido Road.

On 12 October, the temperature in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, was 37.5 degrees, breaking a 14-year temperature record. Many farmers in the township were affected by the drought that could have been caused by global warming.