UN: Myanmar faces food crisis because of cyclone

Source: Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Myanmar faces food shortages in many parts of the country, largely due to last year's cyclone and a rat infestation that destroyed crops elsewhere in the impoverished country, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday.

The report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program forecasts that 85,000 tons of emergency food relief will be needed this year in the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy delta. Almost 100,000 more tons will be needed elsewhere: Food stocks in Chin State have been ravaged by rats while Rakhine in the north, historically among the country's poorest states, also needs assistance.

Blessed with abundant natural resources and fertile land, Myanmar was once the world's top rice producer.

But years of government mismanagement have placed it among the 20 poorest countries in the world, the United Nations estimates, with a per capita income of only $200 — 10 times less than its neighbor Thailand.