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Mercy Corps has worked in Myanmar since 2008 to build more resilient communities with increased economic opportunities and protection from hazards, improved public health and strengthened civil society networks.
Myanmar’s 2008 cyclone was the worst to hit Asia in almost 20 years, leaving more than 138,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million displaced. In the Irrawaddy Delta, one of the hardest hit areas, Mercy Corps and our partners are working to improve the lives and livelihoods of survivors and their communities. Outside of the Delta, Mercy Corps works with small-hold farmers and their communities in the Dry Zone, Chin State, and Rakhine State to build resilience for sustainable gains in household food security and economic well-being. Recently, Mercy Corps and partner NGOs responded to Cyclone Giri, which devastated the western coast of Rakhine State in October 2010.
Making Small-Hold Farming More Productive and Profitable
Mercy Corps and its partners work with small-hold farmers increase their incomes by improving productivity and linking farmers with markets. Specifically tailoring farming strategies to local conditions such as climate, risks (drought, floods, fire, etc.), and market access, our programs are designed to achieve sustainable and scalable results. Farmer field schools allow farmers to experiment with a variety of new methods and technologies, such as composting, integrated pest management, vermiculture, and low-cost irrigation technologies. This helps them to adapt to changing market needs as well as changing climate patterns that have increasingly interfered with their normal farming practices.
Restoring Livelihoods
Since agriculture represents 80 percent of the Delta’s local economy, helping vulnerable rice farmers rebuild their livelihoods is a critical Mercy Corps objective in Myanmar. Traditionally, water buffaloes are used for plowing, but in the areas where Mercy Corps works, more than 90 percent of these important animals were lost in the storm. Mercy Corps and our local NGO partner Community Development Association (CDA) have established 532 community-run livestock banks to support local solutions for shared animal draft power as well as regeneration of livestock numbers. This system leverages the strong social networks in Delta communities to share the use of livestock.
Our programs have helped thousands of families with small livestock and small-scale kitchen gardens for household food and income generation. We continue to work on economic recovery in the Delta, focusing on incorporating the local private sector in recovery programs.
Natural Resource Management
Mercy Corps works with Myanmar NGO partners Mangrove Service Network and Eco-Dev, focusing on mangrove ecosystem recovery, environmental awareness and fuel efficient stove use for reduced carbon emissions. Using a market-based approach, Business Units are organized to produce and market fuel-efficient stoves in Laputta area with the help of local businesses and entrepreneurs.
Rehabilitating Village Infrastructure
Mercy Corps responded to the cyclone in Laputta Township, one of the heaviest hit parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, where an estimated 80,000 of the 350,000 residents died. The cyclone left many area families with next to nothing, making it difficult to restart their lives. Our Village Rehabilitation Program (VRP) hired local people to rehabilitate their communities, using cash-for-work to rebuild destroyed village infrastructure and improve water and sanitation conditions. Other village infrastructure being rehabilitated or rebuilt are Rice Seed Banks. These are used to safely store paddy (rice) seeds for the next season, protecting them from severe storms. Mercy Corps and partners work with farmer groups to establish seed banks to secure this important asset, and works with these farmer groups on improved growing methods and marketing approaches, connecting them with buyers to ensure profitable market connections.
Cyclone Giri hit Rakhine State in October 2010, severely damaging 67,071 acres of farmland and 681 embankments, affecting 10,289 farming families. Embankments hold in the soil and keep out sea water in this coastal area. Unless embankments can be repaired, farmers will face a total loss of their farmland as rising tides during the monsoon season threaten to utterly destroy their paddy fields. Using the same approach as in Cyclone Nargis recovery, Mercy Corps and its local partners CDA and RTA have begun a DFID-funded project to rehabilitate damaged embankments, necessary to rebuild the farming economy.
Working With Our Local Partners
Mercy Corps partners with Myanmar civil society organizations to reach communities in need of assistance. Mercy Corps builds the capacity of its local partners with specific trainings as necessary, resulting in a stronger and more resilient civil society as well as more effective program implementation. Mercy Corps is a leading member of the Food Security Working Group, and established a resource center for food security and livelihoods in Laputta Township to address the need for information, training and support. The Laputta Community Resource Center provides agricultural and vocational training and serves as a resource for international organizations, local organizations and community members, including farmers, fishermen, entrepreneurs and youth. We recently held rodent control workshops to help farmers facing a drastic increase in rodents after the cyclone, in which the storm surge killed natural predators and upset the Delta’s ecosystem.
Ongoing Programming
Mercy Corps, with partners CDA, RTA and Ar Yone Oo, continues working on livelihoods recovery and agricultural development in the Delta, Rakhine State, Chin State and the Dry Zone. We will continue to develop programs to meet ongoing economic recovery and development needs, focusing on the following areas:
• farmer field schools to disseminate best practices in low-input agriculture and other methods of sustainable resource management;
• building community resilience by addressing vulnerabilities to natural hazards, including climate change;
• better knowledge and practices in hygiene and nutrition;
• a focus on youth for non-farm livelihoods skills development;
• Incorporating a ‘Markets for the Poor’ approach and value-chain analysis in recovery programs targeting producers, traders and agribusiness in key sub-sectors such as rice, livestock, vegetable production, tree sapling nurseries and ‘green stove’ production.
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