Mismanagement of land ownership and ‘land grab’ issues has hampered the ability of Myanmar to feed itself, members of the agricultural community told Mizzima on September 15.
“The government’s inability to deal with the problem of ‘land grabs’ provides farmers with instability,” said U Chit Khing, chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation.
Dr Soe Tun, chairman of the Myanmar Farmers Association told Mizzima that the selling of agricultural lands for development and foreign investments was also a concern.
“It is acceptable that some agricultural lands are used for infrastructural development projects but not if it decreases the country’s agricultural output, we must find a way to boost our production,” said Dr Soe Tun.
Dr Soe Tun said that he feared as farmers saw the price of their land rise, they would become increasingly tempted to sell rather than farm the land. He added that he believes that infrastructural development projects should be drawn up with this in mind as to minimise the impact on Myanmar’s agricultural production.
