Great progress has been achieved in rebuilding the lives of farmers in Aceh 10 years after the catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami. The hardest hit province is also a fertile learning ground for governments and organizations to develop necessary plans for agricultural restoration after a big disaster.

Numerous NGOs stepped in to help the recovery process and a total of US$7 billion in aid was generated for the affected countries. A decade later, have the farmers regained their livelihoods and has Aceh re-established its position as a rice-surplus province? What lessons can be learnt after the disaster in the agricultural and fisheries sector?

On Dec. 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami swept through coastal regions in Southeast Asia, flattening villages and causing massive loss of life. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that the tsunami affected significant agricultural land, destroyed irrigation canals, affected 92,000 farms, displaced 60,000 farmers and robbed 330,000 people of their livelihoods in fishing and agriculture in the province.

…Both authors are researchers in non-traditional security studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.