Myanmar Emergency & Rehabilitation Programme: Needs Assessment for the Cyclone Nargis Affected Areas - Agriculture

 The overall intention of this Needs Assessment (NA) is to elaborate a pragmatic Emergency and Rehabilitation Programme for the geographical area most affected by Cyclone Nargis. Based on the understanding of the pre-cyclone situation, the impact of the natural disaster is assessed in terms of its physical destruction and impact on people’s livelihoods. In order to quickly recover from the hardship caused, an emergency programme for immediate assistance (0-6 months) as well as a medium-termrehabilitation programme (0-24 months) is proposed in support of the most vulnerable farmers and  10 fishers communities in order to help protect and rebuild better livelihoods in the eleven priority townships most severely affected by the cyclone - Bogale, Dedaye, Kyaikiat, Labutta, Mawlamyinegyun, Ngapudaw and Pyapone of Ayeyarwady Division and Khawhmu, Kungyangong, Kyauktan and Twantay Townships of Yangon Division - the government and the UN defined these township as the cyclone affected area to be tackled within the overall recovery operations. The assessment covers the crop production, livestock, fisheries and forestry sectors to formulate a response
plan in the most rapid and sustainable manner possible. The proposed programme will help reduce the need for protracted and potentially high-cost life saving activities, which may also undermine social capital with far reaching consequences and bolster resilience to the next shock. As the assessment focuses on needs directly related to the impact of the cyclone, it does therefore intentionally not reach into long-term development.

The conclusions and recommendations of the report will be used to inform and complement other assessment efforts made by the Government and international and national partners, including the ongoing UN-led interagency assessment for early recovery – of which the ‚emergency’ package would have to become part of it. The programme document has been consulted with all partners concerned with agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors through the Agriculture Cluster mechanism, established in Myanmar. It is intended to be used as a reference guide for the formulation of immediate and medium-term interventions/projects based on donors request, as well as to provide technical advice to relief and development partners.