EC allocates 1.2m euros more to help address impact

The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department has allocated 1.2 million euros as humanitarian aid to address the impact of rodent crisis in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
The commission has already allocated 3.65 million euros since the crisis began to assist the most affected population with food and income generating activities.
The people living in the remote areas of the CHT are still facing severe food insecurity due to a three-year-long rat plague, which affected their crops. Every 40-50 years the bamboo plants produce flowers which, when consumed, cause the rats to reproduce at an accelerated rate, said a press release of the European Union Delegation to Bangladesh yesterday.
The rats have eaten seeds, crops and food stocks leaving an estimated 130,000 people with inadequate food sources or incomes.
Most of the indigenous people of the CHT practice jhum cultivation, which is a way of shifting land use for seasonal crop production. Data collected over the last few months show that the farmers have only been able to cultivate between 30 and 50 percent of their normal outputs, the release added.
Although the rats are declining in numbers, crops are now being destroyed by an increased number of wild pigs in the forests. Communities normally depend on sales of bamboo to boost their incomes. After flowering, the bamboo dies and takes five years to regenerate.
“This population, isolated and remote, has faced successive shocks over the last few years--the rodents, the loss of bamboo and the pigs--with grave humanitarian consequences,” said Milko Van Gool, EU Acting Head of Delegation in Bangladesh.
He said the people have had their food sources and incomes depleted; European solidarity is critical now to help them get back on track.
All funds are channeled through the EC's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) that works with international non-governmental organisations, specialised United Nation's agencies and the Red Cross / Crescent movement.
ECHO has been active in Bangladesh for many years, helping the rodent crisis and cyclone-affected populations; the Rohingya refugees as well as working with communities to build their resilience to ever frequent and more intense catastrophes.