UN seeks diesel for Burmese farmers
Updated
The UN UN Asian economic body, ESCAP, says Burma's cyclone-hit farmers urgently need millions of litres of diesel fuel to plant rice and ward off future food shortages.
Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of ESCAP says without diesel the critical monsoon harvest will be lost across the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta -- the country's rice-bowl.
Cyclone Nargis which devastated the delta region in early May, killed hundreds of thousands of livestock normally used for ploughing.
Donors have provided farmers with small power tillers to replace them but fuel to run them is expensive and in short supply.
