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SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2017 
TAGS:        
SUBJECT: REGIME STRONGARMS BURMESE SUGARCANE FARMERS 
 
 
Classified By: Poloff Dean Tidwell for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
 1. (C) SUMMARY: Authorities from Aunglan Township, Magway 
Division, ordered local sugarcane farmers to sell their crops 
to government sugar mills at less than one-third the market 
price.  When farmers opted to sell their cane to local 
cottage industries that produce brown sugar using traditional 
boilers, local authorities and armed soldiers sealed the 
local processing centers and threatened the farmers. 
Activists are helping the farmers to write a complaint to 
regime leader Than Shwe, and the farmers are prepared to 
fight their case in court.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 2. (U) Local civil authorities accompanied by seven soldiers 
visited Let Pa Kan village, Aunglan Township, Magway 
Division, on January 21 evening after local farmers refused 
to sell their sugarcane to government-owned sugar mills, 
choosing instead to sell it to local cottage producers of 
brown sugar.  The government ordered the farmers to sell 
their cane to Government Sugar Factory No. 5 and 6 at the 
rate of $7 (9,000 kyat) per ton, while local brown sugar 
producers had offered the farmers $23 (30,000 kyat) per ton. 
The frightened farmers and brown sugar producers immediately 
went into hiding. 
 
 3. (SBU) On January 23, Major Khun Myint Naing, manager of a 
local regime-owned sugar mill, accompanied by Township Peace 
and Development Committee (PDC) Chairman Myint Wai, Ward PDC 
Chairman Than Htun, and several armed soldiers returned to 
Let Pa Kan village and sealed the local brown sugar 
production units.  The authorities scolded the villagers for 
producing only 6,000 tons of cane last year vice the 
government target of 10,000 tons for the village.  One old 
Let Pa Kan resident said the authorities' actions were 
reminiscent of raids by "fascist Japanese soldiers" on their 
village during World War II. 
 
 4. (C) According to a villager who spoke by telephone to a 
Pol/Econ FSN, last year the government forced the cane 
farmers to sell half of their crop at an artificially low 
rate.  The farmer said the government rate was not sufficient 
to cover their costs. 
 
 5. (SBU) According to the source, the SPDC exempts sugarcane 
from government controls and farmers may sell it on the open 
market.  He said the farmers grow their crops legally and pay 
all required taxes.  However, rather than face hunger by 
agreeing to the local authorities' demands, the farmers 
decided this year to sell their cane crop at market rates. 
The villagers reported that Township PDC Chairman Myint Wai 
told them he was following orders from the Division level and 
that he was not afraid of media reports about his actions. 
Human rights activists are helping the villagers to prepare a 
legal case against the authorities, and are gathering local 
farmers' signatures to petition Senior General Than Shwe. 
 
 6. (C) COMMENT: This latest case follows other recent media 
reports about the military forcing farmers in Bago Division, 
Rakhine State, and Shan State to sell their rice crops at 
half the market price.  Burmese farmers have grown tired of 
pressure to sell their crops to the government and military 
at unreasonably low prices and many are starting to stand up 
for their own rights.  The government's heavy-handed 
intervention to support state-owned industries only serves to 
distort the market and create further shortages.  END COMMENT. 
STOLTZ