Climate change in southern Shan State, June 2015

The rain arrived late this year in Kalaw Township, Shan State. For U Min Zaw, this meant an expensive outlay of 24,000 MMK every five days to water his cabbage fields.

Few farmers can afford to build a water pond like this. The water is for both home and agricultural use.

In June 2015, some farmers in KalawTownship walked up to two miles every day

to fetch water for their crops

Others prepared their land and waited. Here, in Nyaung Shwe Township, the land awaits the rain before chili and eggplant crops can be sown.

This Grandma’s duties extend past child care. She made regular trips to a nearby stream to fetch water for the family crops.

The prolonged heat invited insects. Here a farmer is spraying his crops without protective clothing.

The instructions on the pesticide packets are mainly in Chinese or Thai, and therefore not widely understood by local farmers. This is dangerous for both farmers and consumers.

What is LIFT doing to help in southern Shan?

LIFT funds several projects providing farmers with advice, introducing new

technology, and offering livelihoods options.

For example,Mercy Corps, East-West Seeds and Swisscontact

implement the LIFT- funded project, Making Vegetable Markets Work.

One component of the project is training. Farmers learn about seed options, land preparation, fertiliser and pesticide. This helps them to manage their

crops and farms better, particularly with the erratic rainfall.

A technique that they have introduced is mulching with plastic/straw. This helps keep the soil moist, and protects the

roots from pests, which is particularly useful in the circumstances.

In Nyaung Shwe Township,despite the late rain, DawKhin’s chili crop will be successful.

“ The mulching technique has helped me most,” she says. “It has really worked to prevent pests and increase yield.”

She expects to get 450,000 MMK for her harvest, which is 150,000 more than last year.

© 2015