Burmese Farmers Caught in Poverty Trap
Countries: Myanmar
Mercy Corps has started an agency blog to give a glimpse into the work, thoughts and ideas of our team around the world. Here's a post I wrote yesterday that is really appropriate for Global Envision.
Farming communities in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta have always followed a cycle of debt. Each year, wealthy land owners would lend farmers money, tools and cattle needed to till the soil. After the harvest, the debt is repayed and the cycle continues.
Farming is important for delta communities. The Irrawaddy Delta produces more rice than any other region in the country. Nearly everyone is employed through rice production or the fishing industry.
So when Cyclone Nargis hit the delta about a year ago, the storm not only destroyed homes, fishing boats and agricultural fields, it destroyed livelihoods.
Nargis was the worst natural disaster Myanmar has ever experienced and racked up about $4 billion in damage. Some say the damage sustained in the Irrawaddy Delta was as bad as the Indian Ocean tsunami. Emergency aid from the UN, the government and NGOs has helped shelter and feed the thousands of survivors but there's still a lot of recovery work to be done.
Today, farmers looking to start over are caught in an incredibly frustrating situation: the wealthy land owners that used to lend money and tools lost everything as well, so now there is nobody to lend. Without cattle, tools and seeds, the farmers have little chance of ever getting ahead. Adding to the situation, prices for crops are down from past years. This leaves farming communities with few options, therefore trapping them in poverty.
I first learned about this debt trap in the Al Jazeera video below. The situation is so heartbreaking, but also too common in poverty-stricken communities. Mercy Corps has helped more than 7,000 families rebuild their rice paddies in the delta. We've also given more than 25,000 people small grants to help them earn an income, which in turn helps restart the local economy and helps free these communities from the cycle of debt.
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The spectre of climate change can be reversed
Changing weather patterns, floods, melting North Pole and other related catastrophes from the north to the south poles are largely a creation of inert world leaders who do not want to act swiftly, at least in the interest of the poor who are the most vulnerable. Climate change and its monstrous effects can surprisingly be mitigated but only if there is political will to do so. I am aware that a delicate balance has to be struck by the folks in political authority, between economic gain and social conscience for especially the poor who lack the means to defend themselves in the event that a natural catastrophe lays siege.
If a decision is made and action taken in favor of economic gain like it is presently glaring, the implication is that world will see more of industrial fumes polluting the environment and obliterating the ozone layer and as a corollary, more storms and floods will strike. Property, lives and livelihoods losses will continue spiraling unabated. Small Islands will be wiped off the face of the earth.
If, on the contrary, action is taken in favor of poor people, we will witnesses significant slices in carbon emissions, a move that will see a reduction in storms and floods and other effects of climate change.
The point here is that an audacious action has got to be taken. We can’t wait too long for this action because the entire planet is in peril. The effects of climate change will soon have a heftier toll on the industrialized wealthy world that will reqiure obscene amounts of money to manage it. Thus, Industrialized countries must as a matter of urgency commit to cut carbon emission in practice rather than in words and in theory. Cleaner energy sources must be explored and popularized and as a quick fix, poor countries must be compensated by the industrialized wealthy nations to cover for collateral and emotional damages caused.
Wealthy nations must also commit funds to poor nations to invest in massive tree planting projects to absorb emitted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If these measures are taken in coordination, we will create a better, safe and wealthier world for both the present and future generations.
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