WFP to organize follow up meeting on food crisis in Burma Chin state

Khonumthung News, August 21 - The World Food Program is to organize a follow up meeting on the food crisis in Chin state at the UNDP meeting hall in Rangoon, Burma on August 25.

“As all agencies had agreed in the last meeting, there will be a follow up meeting on August 25,” Joseph Win Hlain Oo, director of Country Agency for Rural Development in Myanmar (CAD) said.

Twelve representatives from international and domestic agencies such as WFP, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) , UNDP, GRET (Groupe d’échange et de recherche technologiques), Care, KMSS(Karuna Myanmar Social Services), CDRT, CAD and DFID (Department for International Development) who attended the previous meeting of the WFP held in Rangoon on August 6, had agreed to hold a follow up meeting.

“At the meeting all the agencies will identify their respective locations and activities or projection for long term response to the food crisis in Chin state,” Joseph Win Hlain Oo added.

At the last meeting of the WFP, all present had agreed on the acuteness of the crisis and expressed fears about imminent famine in Chin state. It had also come up with assessments conducted in over 100 villages that were believed to be badly affected by rat infestation in Chin state.

The UNDP also reported on the situation in three townships such as Thangtlang, Matupi and Paletwa saying that 45 villages in Paletwa, nine villages in Matupi and 43 villages in Thangtlang had been affected by rat infestation, according WFP’s meeting note on August 6.

The UNDP had further said that a total of 34,764 farmers in these villages in three townships in Chin state were affected by food shortage and had proposed provision of emergency food assistance to all affected villagers for a period of three months.

The WFP approved UNDP’s proposal of an emergency food release to famine affected areas in Chin state but did not mention when to start.

CARE in the last WFP meeting said rat infestation in Mindat Township was very limited and it had organized pest control training in 22 villages, the meeting note added.

CARE also suggested that the responses needed to be realistic in terms of capacity and cost effectiveness and the modalities of any emergency support should be geared to support community coping mechanisms.

According to Chin Human Right Organization’s latest report on the food crisis in Chin state known as “crisis point”, around 200 villages may be affected by rat infestation and around 100,000 people are facing shortage of food related to bamboo flowering.

Recently, there was a report from inside Burma that rats and other insects had destroyed several crops in fields in remote areas of Falam, Tedim, Tonzang Townships in Chin state and Tamu, Kalay township in Sagaing division, northwest Burma.

Meanwhile, Pu Ralhnin, secretary of India based Chin National Council said that around 44 children had died of diarrhea and malnutrition in remote areas of Thangtlang Township.

Around 2000 villagers from famine affected areas in Paletwa Township had fled to Mizoram state, northeast India as a result of the food crisis plaguing Chin state, Terah, coordinator of Chin Famine Emergency and Relief Committee said.

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