Burma’s military rulers have appealed for international help to get its cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta rice farmers back to their paddy fields, amid concerns about future food shortages if cultivators miss the coming planting season.

The request came as Burma’s state television said that a controversial military-sponsored constitution had won the support of 92.4 per cent of voters in a partial referendum last Saturday. A vote in cyclone-hit areas and Rangoon has been delayed to May 24. Western countries and Burmese dissidents group have criticised the charter as merely creating a façade of civilian and democratic institutions, while in effect preserving military rule, and the referendum process was far from a free and fair vote.