US embassy cable - 05RANGOON904

UNCLAS RANGOON 000904 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; INL; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, PGOV, SNAR, PREF, BM, NGO, Ethnics 
SUBJECT: BURMA: WFP EXTENDS ASSISTANCE TO EX-POPPY GROWERS 
 
REF: 04 RANGOON 240 
 
1. Summary: The World Food Programme has extended emergency 
food assistance for a second year in Burma's Shan State.  The 
new $7.9 million program will benefit over 347,000 
beneficiaries in ex-poppy growing communities and WFP would 
"welcome (donor) support."  End Summary. 
 
2. WFP, like other UN agencies, has assessed that the GOB's 
ban on poppy cultivation, and other efforts to eradicate 
opium production in Burma, has affected many households by 
removing a primary income source and creating a serious 
malnutrition crisis.  A one-year, $4 million emergency food 
assistance program, commenced in 2004, targeted about 180,000 
beneficiaries in the ethnic Kokang and Wa areas of Shan State 
near the Chinese border (reftel). 
 
3. The WFP recently launched "Emergency Food Assistance to 
Vulnerable Families in Shan State" (EMOP 10345.1) and 
proposes to offset the affect of the poppy ban by offering 
food aid to the hardest hit communities.  The 12-month 
program, scheduled to last through May 2006, will reach 
347,600 beneficiaries in the Wa, Kokang, and Lashio areas of 
northern Shan State and several communities in southern Shan 
State (all controlled by ethnic national armies). 
 
4. The main objective of the food assistance program is to 
provide food security to former poppy growing households 
during the transition period from poppy cultivation to 
alternative income sources.  The program includes components 
to rehabilitate communities and steer families back toward 
self-reliance, via food-for-work, food-for-training, and 
food-for-education programs.  Relief rations will be provided 
for a limited period, to cover the leanest months, and as a 
back-up in case of natural disaster. 
 
5. The program involves 19,961 tons of food and will cost 
$7,924,474, including just over $4 million in direct food 
costs.  WFP will work in collaboration with local communities 
and partner organizations, including the United Nations 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and six international NGOs 
and two local NGOs.  In a recent note to donor missions in 
Rangoon, the WFP-Burma program made a "soft" appeal for 
unspecified support. 
Martinez