Contract farming
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Alternative Development or Business as Usual? China’s Opium Substitution Policy in Burma and Laos |
| Date of publication: | | November 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusions & Recommendations:
• The huge increase in Chinese agricultural
concessions in Burma and Laos is driven by
China’s opium crop substitution programme,
offering subsidies and tax waivers
for Chinese companies.
• China’s focus is on integrating the local
economy of the border regions of Burma and
Laos into the regional market through bilateral
relations with government and military
authorities across the border.
• In Burma large-scale rubber concessions is
the only method operating. Initially informal
smallholder arrangements were the dominant
form of cultivation in Laos, but the topdown
coercive model is gaining prevalence.
• The poorest of the poor, including many
(ex-) poppy farmers, benefit least from these
investments. They are losing access to land
and forest, being forcibly relocated to the
lowlands, left with few viable options for
survival.
• New forms of conflict are arising from
Chinese large-scale investments abroad. Related
land dispossession has wide implications
on drug production and trade, as well
as border stability.
• Investments related to opium substitution
plans should be carried out in a more sustainable,
transparent, accountable and equitable
fashion with a community-based approach.
They should respect traditional land
rights and communities’ customs. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Transnational InstituteDrug (Policy Briefing No. 33) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (304K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.tni.org/node/595/by-country/Burma |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Contract Farming In Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 12 January 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Summary: Since 2005, the Burmese Government has encouraged
investors from China, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Kuwait to
invest in contract farms; to date, only the Thais have a
formal agreement to farm 120,000 acres along the Thai-Burma
border. Over the past six months, several Burmese companies
-- Tay Za's Htoo Trading, Zaw Zaw's Max Myanmar, Steven Law's
Asia World, and Aung Thet Mann's Aye Ya Shwe Wa -- were given
more than 100,000 acres of farmland in the Irrawaddy Delta
and Rangoon Division for contract farming. The Ministry of
Agriculture denies any land seizures associated with contract
farming, saying the government is the sole owner of farmland
and takes it away only if farmers do not use it for farming
purposes. According to agricultural contacts, the GOB
encourages contract farming because private investors help
shoulder the costs of improving Burma's dilapidated
agricultural infrastructure. There is no information on how
much the contract farming investments in Burma are worth.
End Summary. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | US Embassy, Rangoon, via Wikileaks |
| Format/size: | | pdf (108K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 April 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Thais See Economic Benefit From Contract Farming In Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 20 November 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Thai contract farming is a growing feature of the Thai-Burmese bilateral economic relationship. The activity remains concentrated in the border areas, however. Thai businesspeople who engage in contract farming in Burma are generally individuals who conduct their business informally with local Karen village leaders, not with the GOB or major Burmese companies. The Thai government views contract farming as an economic policy tool that lowers agricultural prices for Thai consumers, lessens the migrant pull in Thailand, and stimulates demand for Thai goods in Burma. However, the RTG at the national level is not currently engaged in activities to promote contract farming specifically, it is focused on agricultural development through vertical integration and greater control over quality standards, which contract farming helps to achieve. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | US Consulate Chiangmai via Wikileaks |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 May 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Myanmar Steps up Contract Farming |
| Date of publication: | | 06 October 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "MYANMAR - The development of a contract farming zone in the suburban township of Yangon division is being stepped up, supported by private entrepreneurs. Almost one-third of farms there keep poultry.
According to Chinese sources, a state-backed Myanmar newspaper describes the Yangon division special integrated farming zone, set up in Nyaunghnapin village, Hmawby township, as made up of some sub-zones where undertakings including the raising of poultry, growing of beans and pulses, and physic nuts as well as fish breeding, are carried out...." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Poultry Site |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 19 May 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Capitalizing the Thai-Myanmar border |
| Date of publication: | | 21 June 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | MAE SOT, Thailand - "The conflict-ridden Thai-Myanmar border has long been associated with drug smuggling, arms-dealing and human trafficking and other illicit trades. Now a new investment initiative aims to bring bilateral border trade above ground through the establishment of export-oriented special economic zones (SEZs) in the two countries' hinterlands.
The two sides agreed last month in Mandalay to finalize a long pending agreement, which in the first phases will open the way for
Thai agribusinesses to cultivate millions of acres of land tax-free in Myanmar's border areas. The ambitious plan to turn battlefields into marketplaces has the tacit backing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but at the same time has come under heavy criticism from rights organizations..." |
| Author/creator: | | Clifford McCoy |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asia Times Online" |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 May 2012 |
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