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RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 000530 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2018 
TAGS:            
SUBJECT: BURMA: NO EVIDENCE OF LAND SEIZURES IN DELTA 
 
RANGOON 00000530  001.4 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: Economic Officer Samantha A. Carl-Yoder for Reasons 1.4 
(b and d) 
 
 1.  (C) Summary.  Officials from various UN agencies, NGOs, 
and the private sector have confirmed that the Burmese 
Government has not seized land from farmers in the Irrawaddy 
Delta, despite rumors and news reports to the contrary. 
According to Burmese law, the government is the sole property 
owner of land, which it grants to individuals, farmers, and 
business to use for specific time periods.  Land grant 
contracts contain clauses allowing the GOB to confiscate land 
if it is in the "national interest," business contacts told 
us.  Several NGOs warned that the GOB may remove any 
displaced people living or farming in reserved forests, as 
the land is protected by law.  Despite the loss of land 
records, NGOs and the FAO have not received reports of land 
disputes among farmers in the delta.  End Summary. 
 
False Rumors of Land Seizures 
----------------------------- 
 
 2.  (C) Rumors and reports that the Burmese Government is 
confiscating land from farmers in Bogalay who have already 
received or purchased farming equipment and seeds continue to 
abound.  We met with a variety of contacts to verify whether 
these rumors were true; all of our contacts confirmed that 
they had not seen any evidence nor heard any stories from 
farmers about land seizures.  Sanaka Samarasinha, UNDP Deputy 
Resident Representative, recently returned from a trip to 
Bogalay, where he met with farmers and other vulnerable 
populations in various villages in Bogalay Township.  Neither 
he nor his staff working in the UNDP Bogalay field office 
observed any instances of land seizure.  Steve Marshall, ILO 
Liaison Officer, noted that his office would be the one to 
receive any complaints of land seizures; to date, the ILO has 
not received any official or unofficial reports of GOB land 
confiscation. 
 
 3.  (C) We canvassed NGOs working in the Bogalay area to 
determine if they had witnessed or heard anything about land 
seizures.  Sid Naing, Director of Marie Stopes International 
and Save the Children Director Andrew Kirkwood also confirmed 
the rumors to be false.  Fahmid Bhuiya of PACT did note, 
however, that there were many forest reserves in Bogalay.  He 
observed that the Ministry of Forestry had the right to 
relocate any displaced people who had moved onto and started 
farming in protected forests.  The Minister of Forestry, who 
is personally overseeing the development of Bogalay, would be 
likely to uphold the environmental regulation, even if it 
meant moving displaced people who had lost everything in the 
storm, Bhuiya concluded. 
 
 4.  (C) FAO Deputy Representative Leon Gouws, whose office 
provided seeds and draft animals to farmers in the affected 
areas, confirmed on June 28 that farmers in several townships 
in Bogalay had already started planting rice.  The FAO 
office, aware of the circulating rumors and the potential 
consequences for future assistance, will closely monitor the 
situation, he noted.  The Minister of Agriculture also 
expressed concern to FAO staff about the stories of land 
seizures.  According to Gouws, the Minister of Agriculture 
emphatically denied that it was happening; to the contrary, 
the Ministry of Agriculture remains committed to ensuring the 
farmers have access to seeds, draft animals, and power 
tillers so they can salvage the monsoon planting season. 
Gouws questioned the rumors, noting it unlikely that the GOB 
would provide farmers with farming inputs only to move them 
 
RANGOON 00000530  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
off the land.  The GOB wants farmers to plant rice.  It would 
not make sense for the Burmese Government to seize land and 
dislocate farmers, given the close international scrutiny on 
its every move, he opined. 
 
Who Owns the Land? 
------------------ 
 
 5.  (C) The nature of land rights in Burma is complicated, 
business contacts told us.  Under Burmese law, the government 
is the sole land owner.  The Settlement and Land Records 
Department (SLRD) under the Ministry of Agriculture provides 
grants to individuals, families, farmers, and businesses for 
the use of the land.  Once a person has a land grant, he or 
she has the discretion to sub-grant the land to others, 
further complicating the situation.  Grants can span anywhere 
from ten years to one hundred years, although the average 
land concession is for a thirty-year period, Embassy contact 
Zaw Naing explained.  Land grant contracts contain clauses 
allowing the GOB to confiscate land if it is in the "national 
interest," including non-use of agricultural land as defined 
by the Ministry of Agriculture.  A family or farmer may work 
the land for generations, so they mistakenly think that they 
own the land.  In reality, the Burmese people have the right 
to use the land, but do not have the right to own the land, 
Zaw Naing emphasized. 
 
 6.  (C) According to the SLRD office, there is no set fee for 
a land grant; costs and taxes are dependent upon location, 
proposed use of the land, and duration of the grant.  In some 
instances, farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta obtained land 
grants for free, but were obligated to turn over part of 
their crop to the local authorities, Zaw Naing noted. 
 
Land Records Lost 
----------------- 
 
 7.  (C) Karen Hundland of the NGO Consortium (a group of 
Burmese NGOs working together on cyclone assistance) told us 
that because many of the Irrawaddy Delta SLRD offices, which 
maintained land grant records, were destroyed, land use 
issues in the delta could become a concern.  Ministry of 
Agriculture officials told the FAO that it maintained backup 
records in Nay Pyi Taw, so it could mediate any disputes over 
land use.  So far, NGOs and the FAO have not received any 
reports of land disputes and some farmers have successfully 
started to recultivate their land.  Hundland observed that on 
the village level, local authorities and farmers had a good 
understanding of who was doing what before the storm and 
where.  If any land disputes were to occur, local authorities 
would likely intervene and settle the issue before the 
Ministry of Agriculture would become involved.  The informal 
system appears to be working, she noted. 
 
 8.  (C) There remain a large number of landless people living 
in the Delta, estimated at 120,000 households (or 
approximately 600,000 people).  Many of these people were day 
laborers, working on other people's land for daily wages. 
Potentially, these individuals could try to assert some 
ownership over land, despite having no legal foundation, 
Hundland noted.  NGOs and UN agencies continue to work to 
reestablish their livelihoods as a way to prevent any 
potential conflicts. 
 
 9.  (C) No one we spoke with had information about how the 
GOB would handle cases where land grant farmers in the delta 
had died in the storm.  On most occasions, the land grant 
 
RANGOON 00000530  003.4 OF 003 
 
 
would pass down to family members.  However, entire families 
in the delta perished in the cyclone, leaving no one with a 
legal claim to the land.  The FAO plans to work with the 
Ministry of Agriculture to address this issue, Gouws told us. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
 10.  (C) Because the Burmese people do not have the right to 
own land, the issue of land use is of fundamental importance. 
 The UN and NGOs agree that the faster displaced people 
return to their land and resume their livelihoods - whether 
it be farming, fishing, or salt production - the less likely 
the regime will confiscate the land for national interest 
purposes.  Although the loss of land records could provide an 
excuse for the GOB to seize land and re-grant it to regime 
cronies, we have seen no evidence of this.  On the contrary, 
Ministry of Agriculture officials and local authorities 
continue to work with some Irrawaddy farmers (primarily large 
land holders with 60 acres or more), assisting them in 
regaining their livelihoods.  The GOB has given tacit 
approval to NGOs and UN agencies to focus their recovery 
efforts on small land holders and landless farm labor, 
enabling them to return to work as quickly as possible. 
Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to suspend 
the usual production quotas on farmland in the delta, so 
non-use of land should not be a reason for confiscation. 
VILLAROSA