ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By VIOLET CHO | Some 70,000 people in Chin State are facing severe food shortages after a plague of rats destroyed their entire rice crop earlier this year, according to sources from the Chin community in India and Thailand.

Sui Khar, the joint-secretary of the Chin National Font (CNF) and an international fundraiser, said that UN agencies must respond to the crisis.

“Our Chin community and UN agencies have been providing relief and assistance, but the number of people affected is so great that it cannot cover all their needs,” he said. “We have tried our best to solve the problem, but there is a still a big gap between what we can give and what they require.”

Sui Khar also expressed concern over the migration of many Chin people to foreign countries to escape the food crisis.

“More than 1,000 people have crossed the border illegally into India to look for work,” he said. “We expect more people will follow in the near future.”

In northeastern India, about 1 million people in the state of Mizoram are also facing food shortages after an infestation of rats left them with just one-fifth of their normal rice supply.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said that the infestation of rats spread over the border areas of Bangladesh and Burma earlier this year and is now “increasing fears of widespread food shortages.”

The rat population boomed after the flowering of a native species of bamboo, which happens only every 50 years. It will take four or five years for the fields to recover, said Sui Khar.

According to the Chin Famine Relief Committee, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been providing limited food assistance since the infestation while the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) has promised to provide work for people in famine-affected areas in Chin State.

Sui Khar accused the Burmese government of failing to address the growing need for food aid in famine-affected Chin State.

Instead of providing aid, the CNF official said that local authorities were selling rice and food supplies to victims of the plague.

“The military authorities have told local people that they will help them by selling them rice,” said Sui Khar. “This is an inhumane act against poor and disadvantaged people.”