Stories of climate change in southern Shan State
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Transcript of Stories of climate change in southern Shan State
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.
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.