Cyclone hits 20 pct of Myanmar rice fields

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Cyclone-hit Myanmar faces food shortages and may need to import rice if farmers in devastated areas do not get immediate help to plant a new crop, the U.N. food agency said on Thursday.

Some 20 percent of rice fields in five declared disaster zones, including the Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, were damaged by the cyclone that killed up to 128,000 people, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

With rice stored from the previous harvest likely badly damaged as well, it was critical to get farmers back on the land to plant a new crop, FAO regional chief He Changchui told Reuters.

"There is not much time. The planting season has started already. We need to have the funds and resources to bring the farmers back," He Changchui said in an interview.

"The consequence is very clear that we might have food shortages if we don't plant today," he said, estimating a 50-day window to get the crop planted.

Myanmar's agriculture ministry says it needs $243 million for rice seed, fertiliser and to rehabilitate paddy fields after the cyclone flooded 5,000 sq km (1,931 sq mile) in the delta.

The ministry estimated 650,000 hectares of paddy mainly in delta and around the former capital of Yangon were damaged out of a total 3.2 million hectares, He Changchui said.

Some of the funds raised from donors will go towards buying 97,000 tonnes of seed, including 6,000 tonnes of salt-tolerant varieties, he said.