Myanmar junta announces plans to expropriate unused land

The military council will seize and redistribute farmland that has been “out of use” for more than two years, according to the junta’s agriculture minister as quoted in regime-run media on Monday. “If land is found abandoned and out of use for more than two years, we will claim it according to existing laws and reallocate it to working farmers,” said Min Naung, the junta’s minister of agriculture, livestock, and irrigation. The minister delivered these remarks at a committee meeting of the central land management team held at the agriculture ministry on April 15, adding that the farmworkers assigned to work on the seized land would lose their authorisation if they failed to meet a minimum work quota within the first six months. Section 31 of Myanmar’s 2012 Farmland Law states that the Central Administrative Body of the Farmland may “confiscate” farmland not “put into effect” within six months (or other “stipulated period”) of the date when permission is granted to work the land. The military expropriated real estate belonging to thousands of households in Yangon and Mandalay in 2023. Min Naung, the junta’s minister of agriculture, livestock, and irrigation. They cited a variety of pretexts for the confiscation, including the houses’ location in areas designated for agricultural use, military use, or the construction of roads, bridges, electric transmission towers, and city development projects. According to a real estate agent based in Naypyitaw, the regime’s administrative capital, military officers living in the city’s Pyinmana and Zabuthiri townships are selling farm plots of 40 to 60 square feet for between 35 and 50 lakh (US $1,665 and $2,380) to displaced people. The officers are reportedly not disclosing to buyers that some of the land being sold has been designated for other uses by the military and may be confiscated at any time. https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/when-paddies-become-battlefields Demand for the farm plots has risen with the influx of displaced people to Naypyitaw, who have few resources or options. They are willing to buy at inflated prices in the belief that farmland in Naypyitaw, where the junta has tightened security, will be safe. “In Naypyitaw, they’re even selling land that’s designated for other purposes but hasn’t been confiscated yet,” the real estate agent said. A lawyer working in Naypyitaw said displaced people were still buying the farm plots in desperation even after he tried to explain that the military could take the land away at any time. “Legally, it’s not allowed to build houses on farmland. Doing so could lead to the land being closed off and confiscated. But they are not heeding my warnings,” the lawyer said.

Myanmar junta announces plans to expropriate unused land

Even as the military confiscates real estate, officers living in Naypyitaw are reportedly selling farm plots designated for confiscation to desperate, displaced people who have fled to the administrative capital for safety

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