World Vision workers help to stack bags of rice from the Ayeyarwady delta.

IN addition to the various forms of material support they are receiving, farmers in the Ayeyarwady delta will soon benefit from some education assistance, a World Vision spokesperson said last week.

U Ant Gyi, livelihood technical coordinator or World Vision’s Cyclone Nargis recovery program, said the program is a joint effort with Myanmar Agricultural Society (MAS).

The program will run until the end of 2009, he said, adding that it is in many ways just as valuable as the material assistance in helping to get those in the delta back on their feet.

“A combination of factors, including the extensive penetration of seawater during Nargis and the heavy use of non-organic fertilisers before the storm, has seriously damaged the health of the soil.

“This clearly has a negative effect on the environment and shows us that we need to work on educating farmers about caring for the soil,” he said.

The material support has included the donating of threshers, tractors, paddy seeds and gypsum (to improve the soil’s strength and help to leech out the salt, thereby lifting yields).

The educational programs will include talks and discussions on the correct use of insecticides, fertilisers, soil management and the production of organic fertilisers among many other topics, said U Hein Zaw Htwe, a World Vision agricultural facilitator at the Bogale township branch’s livelihood office.

U Hein Zaw Htwe said he was quietly confident that the programs would pay dividends.

“If the farmers really put their minds to these programs and follow our recommendations I believe there is every chance that the monsoon season paddy crops will be good,” he said.

World Vision has distributed three different varieties of paddy seeds to the 74 delta townships it oversees, depending on the condition of the agricultural land.

However, Min Thein Htike, World Vision’s agricultural facilitator at the Pyapon township livelihood office, said last summer’s yields were not encouraging.

“The summer paddy yields were not good, even though the farmers had access to chemical fertilisers. We want them to educate on the best ways of ploughing their fields and growing the paddy to take advantage of the fertiliser. We’re also trying to encourage them to leave some plots fallow for a season to allow the soil to recover.

“It’s for these reasons that we want to run some education programs,” he said.

“Farmers are not being patient enough with the soil. They want to use fertilisers to lift yields but don’t understand the damage they might be creating,” he added.

At the same time, a simple change in paddy seeds could perhaps improve yields by half during monsoon, he predicted.

Some training has already taken place, with a program on tractor and mechanical maintenance undertaken in May. The next program, starting in June, will focus on soil management.

“We already knew how to handle a tractor but this course taught us how to look after the tractors,” said farmer U Thein Oo from Kanthar village, Pyapon township.

U Win Thein Htike added, “We also showed farmers the best ways to plough, which was often removed from their normal techniques.”