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TOPIC: Reducing poverty, or make it worst ?

samakomlao

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Date: Apr 23, 2007

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Reducing poverty, or perpetuating it? Photo: Rubber plantation in southern Laos Villagers in Bachieng district of Champassak province envisage a dark future now that their lands have been taken over by investors for a rubber plantation. Local authorities have allowed the investors a concession on the land and encourage villagers to work as labourers for the investors. The resulting shortage of land for agriculture will force some families to leave their homes in search of alternative land to earn a living. Throughout Champassak province, there are already 10,000 hectares of rubber plantations, 8,000 of which are in this district. Chief of the district's Don village, Mr Buasy Mixaysein, told Vientiane Times on Friday that more than 100 hectares of land in the village had been taken over by investors, and two families had already relocated to Mounlapamok district in Champassak province, with three more families planning to follow. “The investors gave villagers just 200,000 kip per hectare in compensation, but some of our land contained teak and cardamom trees,” he said. People in six other villages in the district, Nongsim, Mak-ngeo, Oudomsouk, Nonghuakhuay, Km16 and Nongkork, have had similar problems, where investors have used tractors to clear villagers' trees without informing them, destroying their coffee, durian, banana trees, cardamom and sisiat (betel nut) crops. Mr Chieng said he lost four hectares of his land; each year, he was able to earn about 2 or 3 million kip from selling betel nut and cardamom from his four-hectare plot. Many villagers have been changing occupations, becoming labourers for investors who hire them for between 300,000 and 500,000 kip per month to plant rubber and maintain the trees. Critics in Vientiane say rubber plantations will never bring wealth to locals, unless they own the plantations themselves, and that this is not a sustainable form of development. Director of the Champassak Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr Vilakone Volasan, said he accepted that the concession land had taken over local production areas, but denied that the concession area covered a large parcel of land. “We accept that there will be some problems with villagers initially, but if we don't change today from local production to industrial production, when will we do it?” he said. Head of the governor's office, Mr Niphone Viengpaseuth, said all investments should change villagers' lives for the better, and anything with a potentially negative impact should not be acceptable. “We know only about the investment possibilities in Bachieng district, but we know nothing about the actual implementation of the project,” he said. He promised to launch an investigation and report on the issue to the governor. He would also take note of whether the payments being made to village labourers each month were appropriate. He maintained that development projects should not be allowed to use land on which people were growing crops or planting trees, as this would only force them further into poverty. Mr Buasy was unwilling to make any further comment, but said he remained angry that investors had destroyed his 700 teak trees without telling him. He said developers had set a rule that if any labourer was absent without reason, they would not be allowed to work for 15 days, as punishment. By Vientiane Times __________________ Make yourself visible, signup at samakomlao webboard. HERE

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