Eggplant farmer in lower Burma. This is an area with no access to irrigation water so it has to be transported. - - General: General. Burma is faced with an increasing shortage of fuel wood, due to prolonged over cutting of natural forests. Almost all cooking fires and many small industries are fueled with wood or charcoal, and the stripping of valuable forests is a major concern of the Forestry Department. In an attempt to solve this critical problem, the government began a programme of reforestation in the 1970s, planting over 8 000 acres per year of fast-growing fuel wood trees such as eucalyptus, acacia, catechu, cassia siamea and indigenous species. These local supply plantations are established on degraded and deforested public lands, generally in dry and harsh conditions, where they are protected from grazing and indiscriminate cutting.