The farmer’s land, in Ward 12 of Aye Thar Yar Industrial Zone, was divided into plots to create Number 3 Industrial Zone without the farmers’ knowledge, which has caused them great distress.

The authorities are selling the industrial plots with a 30-year lease, meaning that the purchasers are guaranteed to be able to occupy and use the land for industrial purposes for 30 years.

U Tin Shwe, a local farmer said the project could affect over 60 farmers, but the authorities said they had land confiscation orders and they just took the land.

He said: “We have been using this land since our great grandfathers’ time before industrial zones had appeared. We do not know when and how the authorities confiscated our farmland, they did not inform us. As for farmers, when they confiscate our farmlands our lives are finished and we have no reason to live.”

The confiscated farmlands are owned by farmers from: Tharyarkone, Moantawa, Nampkwut, Sinthel, Aung Tha Pyay, Nong In and Htanawt villages. They have been growing seasonal crops such as corn, beans, sesame and sugarcane on the land.

U Thin Shwe said: “They confiscated the land and said they would open a land dispute investigation. But now they are again implementing the project and [they said] they will make a decision later [on who owns the land]. Though we have complained frequently nothing has happened.”

According to the farmers, they have been in negotiations for compensation with the chairman of the industrial zone, but he has not given them a reply yet.

From 2012 to 2015 the farmers have also been sending letters of complaint to the Shan State Government Land Management Committee and the Land Dispute Investigation Commission in Naypyidaw. Until now, according to the farmers, they still have not received any replies.

The farmers have also held two protests against the land grab in Taunggyi City.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI