(Hnaring Village)

Chin state is located in the north-western part of Myanmar, bordering with India and Bangladesh, with 10 highland townships. About 75% of the Chin land is hilly and mountainous, having an average altitude of 4,000 ft. Chin State consists of high mountains and deep valleys and is one of the poorest and most isolated states in Myanmar.

Communication is very difficult. In addition, only a few villages can be accessed by car during the rainy season. This makes transportation of food and other commodities difficult and expensive. The main livelihood is agriculture: farmers make their living following the traditional slash and burn system of shifting agriculture. This farming practice is causing depletion of the forest, including in areas that are more densely populated. In general, cultivation of a few acres of land produces just enough to feed a family of five or six members. Investment in agriculture and infrastructure in Chin is limited. The state is remote and a lack of natural resources and tourism sites has meant that development support from central government and the private sector has been limited. Job opportunities in Government and Non-government organizations are also scarce and the majority of households thus rely on subsistence agriculture. External technical and financial assistance from International Organizations and NGOs is also limited.

Chronic food insecurity in Chin state is widespread and a variety of different coping capacities have been deployed by the population to cope with the vagaries of food access and availability. However, the deterioration of the food security situation in Chin has been significant and these coping mechanisms cannot cover the needs any longer. The food gap has been prolonged due to the rapid multiplication of rats and their destruction of food crops. It is reported that the most difficult period is expected to be from September 2008 to February 2009 when existing stocks will run out and new crops will not yet be harvested. The main cause of household food insecurity in Chin is the decline in agricultural yields leading to a decline in available food and income at the household level. The lack of employment opportunities add to the problem.

CAD has started agricultural revolutionary program since January 1, 2009 by substituting traditional farm (slash and burn shifting farming system) with permanent farming system of terrace and SALT so that agricultural producing power will be increased to support better living standards of local farmers. No sooner farmers had increased agricultural products, markets must be connected to them. We believe that occurrence of good transport or communication system is fundamental for creating good flows of local products to available markets. Therefore, we are dedicated to create village network car roads so that they will have better access to urban markets and to urban health care system too. CAD supports 100 bags of rice (50 Kilogram weight) per mile. In 2009 – 2010, CAD had already constructed 80 miles of rural car roads for which we spent US$ 160,000.

We are very happy to see and learn from local people that they have greater movement, better economic interactions and protection of lives through safer transport in their regions. The figure, shown below is of car road projects that CAD constructed.