This gift in action
Oxfam fertiliser + seeds are proving to be a winning combination for small-scale farmers in rural Myanmar, helping them to recover from a devastating cyclone.
After the event farmers found most of their crops and seedlings destroyed and animals gone. Oxfam helped a number of farmers start over by supplying seedlings, a share of two power tillers plus the diesel to run them, and just as importantly – fertiliser. It enabled growers to bring in a rice harvest that they never expected, and each of them donated a percentage of their crop to a rice bank so the whole community could benefit.
Eventually it has also enabled farmers like Htun Htun Lwin, who farms a few hectares in the country’s delta region, to transform the productivity of his land. With some Oxfam-supplied fertiliser, a bit of agricultural training and two baskets of rice seeds for his paddy fields, in under a year he was harvesting 800 baskets of seeds – plenty to feed his family, to plant for the following season and to sell.