UNITED Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon called last week for greater efforts to help the victims of cyclone Nargis in Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions, as the UN issued emergency appeals to help rice farmers in the storm-ravaged delta region.

A statement issued to the UN General Assembly on June 18 said although overall relief efforts for cyclone victims were continuing to improve, they needed to scale up quickly. In the statement Mr Ban reiterated that the “humanitarian tragedy wrought by cyclone should not be politicised”.

He was speaking on the outcome of his visit to Myanmar late last month, which produced an agreement on allowing foreign aid workers into the country to help nearly 2.5 million victims of the storm that ripped through southern Myanmar on May 2 and 3.

The UN World Food Program said last week it has supplied 11,000 metric tonnes of rice and other food items to cyclone victims.

Also last week, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) issued an appeal for US$83 million to help nearly 100,000 families resume their farming work.

The money would include $32 million for a short-term emergency package, which also includes “distributing agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertiliser to around 30,500 of the poorest households in the delta, and providing fishing and processing equipment and boat tools”, said an FAO report last Wednesday.

The report said the other $51 million would be used for longer-term recovery and rehabilitation plans to help further boost agricultural productivity.

The appeal was issued following a three-week assessment by FAO technical experts and senior government technical specialists, who travelled extensively in the delta, the report said.

“We have seen areas very difficult to get to physically, where very few people have been,” team leader Mr Albert Lieberg was quoted as saying in the report. He added that the team’s recom-mendations were based on an “appropriate picture of reality in the delta”.

Mr Lieberg warned that without outside assistance, around 52,000 households would be unlikely to be able to plant their monsoon paddy crop this year. The UN agency also issued a separate appeal last week for 5000 water buffaloes, which it said were urgently needed to help farmers in the Ayeyarwady delta.

The report said more than 120,000 mature draught animals, which would have been used to plough about 120,000 hectares of paddy, were killed in the cyclone.

Myanmar agricultural author-ities and international aid agencies have distributed mechanised power tillers so farmers who lost their animals can plough their fields in time for the crucial monsoon planting season, which would normally be underway by now.

But the FAO stated that 15 percent of the cyclone-affected paddy lands – about 122,782 hectares (more than 300,000 acres) –could not be ploughed effectively by mechanised tillers, due to the high water content of the soil.

“Because of the high water levels in the paddy fields, even during the normal monsoon period there is little alternative to replacing the draught cattle and buffaloes, as mechanical implements are considered not suitable,” the report stated.

A government assessment issued last month said nearly 2 million acres of paddy-growing areas had been affected by the storm.

In a related development, an ASEAN-led assessment team that has been deployed to the worst-affected areas said it has received the full cooperation and support of the government.

The team comprising nearly 300 members – including government officials, members of international non-governmental organisations, and experts from ASEAN, UN, World Bank and Asian Development Bank – started its survey of Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions early this month.

HelpAge International, a UK-based NGO whose chief executive officer Mr Richard Blewitt is a member of the assessment team, said in a statement released last Tuesday that the team has received “the full cooperation and support of the Myanmar authorities and will have unrestricted access to the cyclone-affected areas”.

“The deployment of this … [team] represents a huge step forward in the international relief effort in Myanmar,” Mr Blewitt was quoted as saying in the June 18 statement.

“In conducting this assessment, we hope to gain a more complete picture of the needs of those worst-affected areas and identify any gaps in current aid operations.”

The team was due to issue a preliminary report on its finding on relief and reconstruction assistance needs. The report will be the subject of discussion at the ASEAN roundtable conference due to be held in Yangon on Tuesday.

“The roundtable will also help further build confidence on the ASEAN-led initiative in Myanmar,” said an ASEAN statement released last week.

ASEAN said the conference will be attended by potential donor partners “to ensure that there is greater ownership and buy-in by the international community of the findings of the assessment team”.

The complete report is expected to be issued in mid-July and will be the basis for international aid efforts led by ASEAN.

The assessment team was sent into the delta under the aegis of a tripartite working group made up of representatives from ASEAN, the government and the UN.

The ASEAN task force headed by the grouping’s secretary general, Mr Surin Ptisuwan, is due to meet in Yangon on Wednesday to discuss the organisation of a second pledging conference by international donors, following the first conference held last month.

Mr Surin, who visited Myanmar last week, said new regulations on international aid operations recently imposed by the government would not hamper ASEAN-led efforts to help cyclone victims. He made the comment following a meeting with the Minister for Social Welfare Relief and Resettlement Major General Maung Maung Swe in Yangon on June 14.

“Dr Surin hoped that this would address some concerns that have been raised by the international community with respect to relief, recovery and rehabilitation in Myanmar,” said a statement released by ASEAN.

According to the guidelines announced on June 10, aid agencies must seek approval from the government and the working group for visas and importation of relief items. It also called for detailed listings of relief supplies, and said distribution plans must be shared with government and local authorities.