Desperate Villagers Scavenge for Food as Hunger Bites in Myanmar’s Rakhine

MRAUK U, Myanmar—People in western Myanmar have been driven to scavenging for bamboo shoots, as humanitarian workers warn a wartime blockade and aid cutbacks led by Washington have caused hunger cases to surge.

“Another day has gone, and I have to struggle again for another day,” fruit vendor Kyaw Win Shein told AFP in the town of Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“It is getting worse day by day,” said the 60-year-old, whose business is faltering as prices rise and incomes drop—a grim equation driving others to scour the countryside for sustenance.