Rubber plantations

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Topic: plantation, dispossession, life, economy, Wa
Topic: plantation, dispossession, life, economy, Wa
Description: "A classic origin story told and retold among the Wa of China and Myanmar is about their flight from Keng Tung: in the long‐ago past, the Wa ruled over the Shan in the great city of Keng Tung.1 But they were tricked by the Shan, who came with an army of elephants and expelled them from the city. Those who went ahead broke plantain leaves along their path so that those coming behind would find the way. But plantains grow back very fast, and the latecomers got lost and had to stay in the plains: the Wa pioneers entered the mountains where they are until today, and the others are the ‘left‐behind Wa’, the Wa Git, or the ‘Hill Thai’, Tai Loi. From then on, every time a new Sawbwa was installed in Keng Tung, some left‐behind Wa were feasted at the palace and then ritually expelled (Enriquez 1918: 33; Mangrai 1981: 230). Today, the Shan of Kengtung recognise their Burmese overlords and have no Sawbwa anymore, but the Tai Loi, the descendants of the Wa, still play an important part in the rituals of Songkran, the Thai New Year Festival, specifically by carrying and playing drums. Even though the rituals imply mutual interdependence, it is clear that the Tai Loi subordinate themselves to the Tai Khuen, the Shan majority group in today’s Keng Tung, thus annually repeating the humiliation of their expulsion centuries ago (Karlsson 2013). Yet, about 100 km to the North of Keng Tung, in Pang Hsang, the capital of the Wa State, we can observe an inversion of the ritual of expulsion. Each year at the Songkran of Pang Hsang, Wa rulers receive gifts from local Shan villagers. Similar to the Shan princes of the past, representatives of the Wa central authorities sit in elevated thrones, while the Shan villagers squat in front of them. During the rituals, the Shan villagers pay their honours to the Wa, deliver presents to them, including fruits, sweets and sticky rice, and in turn receive red envelopes with money from the Wa officials. Most of the leaders of the Wa State are from villages in the hills to the North of Pang Hsang and can easily be distinguished from their Shan subordinates: dark‐skinned and in army fatigues, followed by an entourage of soldiers, no one would mistake them for a Shan villager. The core leaders of the Wa State are relatives and associates of Tax Pang, also known by his Chinese name Bao Youxiang. Tax Pang, and his brothers Tax Rang and Tax Jiet, were born in the village of Taoh Mie in the 1940s and 50s. When they were children, neighbouring armies had just started to move into the Wa hills, and as teenagers they still took part in raids and headhunting rituals. They rose through the ranks of the guerrilla armies of the Communist Party of Burma during the 1970s and 80s, founded the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in 1989, and have been presiding over its de‐facto state since. Like Tax Pang and his brothers, most members of the central committee and politburo of the Wa State are veterans of the Communist Party of Burma. All of them have accumulated substantial personal wealth – bureaucracy and administration is relatively weak, and most infrastructure construction in the Wa State is paid for directly by the elites. The trade in drugs played an important role in the emergence of this elite, but already in the 1990s, they started to diversify into other industries, including mining and food, as well as large‐scale investments in China, Thailand and Myanmar (where they own, for instance, one minor airline). Ordinary villagers and Chinese traders often tell stories about the unimaginable wealth of the Wa commanders: for instance, one commander had so much cash stored in his warehouses that it got mouldy and had to be taken out. His servants dried truckloads of 100‐Yuan batches in the huge courtyard for several days, just like other people would dry corn cobs or tea leaves. Wa villagers who have served in the army or at the house of a commander commonly know that a normal 50 kg rice‐bag can carry three million Chinese yuan (the equivalent of € 380,000). In the warehouse of one Wa commander I have seen two Bentleys, and in one of Pang Hsang’s large garages, a monster truck imported from Thailand that is said to be worth exactly one rice bag full of Chinese money. The elites of the Wa State have effectively turned around the old story of the Wa’s expulsion from the highlands and have re‐conquered the lowlands. During the 1970s and 80s, when they fought with the Communist Party of Burma, Wa soldiers entered the plains of Pang Hsang, Meng Pok and Meng Yawn – traditionally settlements of their Shan neighbours. Since then, the Wa have established a de facto state the size of Belgium, and the core leaders of this state are tightly connected through kinship and business ties. Most of them have grown up in villages at the Chinese border. In their lifetime, they saw huge changes: they have conquered the surrounding valleys and since then have also overseen huge changes to the villages in the hills, where they had grown up. They started off, quite literally, as pioneers, that is, foot soldiers,2 in the Communist Party of Burma. Even though the first generation of Wa leaders rose through the ranks of the army and have become agrarian capitalists, they still define themselves by a pioneering ethos that will become apparent. They have been pioneers in many ways, but here I want to focus on the plantation economies that they have established in the Wa State. Using their income from elsewhere, the elites of the Wa State have invested in new forms of commercial and large‐ scale agriculture. The rubber and tea plantations they have opened rely on the new technologies of transport, communication and production that in the Wa hills were introduced for military purposes. The plantations also required large‐scale forced resettlements, which took place especially during the 1990s but continue until the present day. The plantation economy requires a lot of investment, it often incurs losses (especially rubber, in recent years) and is generally not very profitable. But even so, it is an essential part of the de facto sovereignty of the Wa State, not least because it is a core institution of the military state and its ‘garrison‐entrepôts’ (Roitman 2005): plantations provide radical means to control populations, and thus offer a core nexus between the elites of the Wa State and ordinary villagers – as well as with animals and plants..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Wiley Periodicals LLC
2021-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "A high-ranking Myanmar official has called for sustainable development in natural rubber plantation to avoid degradation of forest, biodiversity and ecosystem. Dr. Aung Thu, minister of agriculture, livestock and irrigation, made the remarks at the International Rubber Conference 2019, which began in Nay Pyi Taw Monday, according to the ministry Tuesday. Aung Thu called for supporting rubber growers and increasing the export substitution for rubber products to expand market for the planters and create more job opportunities. He advised to adopt policies for sustainable development of the industry, cooperate with local and international organizations, support the production of high-quality rubber and provide assistance to small-scale rubber planters. Myanmar joined the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries and became a member of International Rubber Research and Development Board in December 2018..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-10-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: antation owner say, after they pay their workers, there’s not much profit left.
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Source/publisher: Radio Free Asia
2015-01-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Sustainable rubber is the future and Myanmar has the chance to be a leading player - a win-win-win for the environment, communities and the economy.” Myanmar is one of the most biodiverse countries in Southeast Asia. Its pristine forests, free flowing rivers, beautiful lakes and other natural assets support the livelihoods of millions of people. However, these natural assets are in grave danger. Threats including infrastructure development, illegal logging and rapid rubber expansion are destroying forest habitat that is essential for wildlife, communities and the Myanmar economy. It need not be this way. The global rubber market is shifting towards sustainability with the two biggest mobility companies, Michelin and General Motors, already committed to sourcing and using sustainable rubber. Others will follow. Myanmar has a great opportunity to transform its rubber sector by producing sustainable rubber following a zero deforestation approach. This will protect forests, improve the livelihoods of communities, and contribute to the targets of the National Export Strategy for rubber. This comprehensive analysis will help stakeholders understand the existing dynamics of rubber production and trade and why it is critically important to transform the industry to benefit both communities and environment. The tremendous effort by CIRAD and Yezin University in undertaking this study is truly commendable. The insights and data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MoALI), and the Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association (MRPPA) have been invaluable in driving important conclusions. This is the moment for Myanmar to become a leader in sustainable rubber production, a decision that will be applauded by generations to come..."
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Source/publisher: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
2017-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 2.33 MB
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Description: "As Myanmar?s junta prepared to step down from government, the military set about seizing public assets and natural resources to ensure its economic control in a new era of democratic rule. Guns, Cronies and Crops details the collusion at the heart of operations carried out by Myanmar?s armed forces in northeastern Shan State. Large swathes of land were taken from farming communities in the mid-2000s and handed to companies and political associates to develop rubber plantations. Our investigation reveals those involved, including Myanmar?s current Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, U Myint Hlaing, the country?s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, and Sein Wut Hmon, a rubber company which collaborated with the former military junta to gain control of land. These revelations come as Myanmar?s government finalises the drafting of a national land policy, the country?s first. The report documents the toxic legacy of these land grabs on an already marginalised ethnic-minority population, for whom little has changed since the country?s much-lauded transition to civil democracy in 2011. Villagers told Global Witness that they had received no compensation and are struggling to earn a living and feed their families without land to grow food..."
Source/publisher: Global Witness
2015-03-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 817.7 KB 1.15 MB 49.85 KB
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Description: "As Myanmar?s junta prepared to step down from government, the military set about seizing public assets and natural resources to ensure its economic control in a new era of democratic rule. Guns, Cronies and Crops details the collusion at the heart of operations carried out by Myanmar?s armed forces in northeastern Shan State. Large swathes of land were taken from farming communities in the mid-2000s and handed to companies and political associates to develop rubber plantations. Our investigation reveals those involved, including Myanmar?s current Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, U Myint Hlaing, the country?s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, and Sein Wut Hmon, a rubber company which collaborated with the former military junta to gain control of land. These revelations come as Myanmar?s government finalises the drafting of a national land policy, the country?s first. The report documents the toxic legacy of these land grabs on an already marginalised ethnic-minority population, for whom little has changed since the country?s much-lauded transition to civil democracy in 2011. Villagers told Global Witness that they had received no compensation and are struggling to earn a living and feed their families without land to grow food..."
Source/publisher: Global Witness
2015-03-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 5.38 MB
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Description: "Myanmar central government and military authorities have long supported rubber production as a strategic industrial agricultural crop for export to earn foreign exchange. The history of rubber cultivation is important to consider in order to better understand the newly emerging political economy of rubber in the country during the current transition period. Rubber has been cultivated in Myanmar since the British colonial period in the early 20th century, mostly in Mon State. These ?traditional? rubber growing areas in Mon State mostly comprise smallholder rubber plantations that have greatly contributed to the livelihoods of Mon households. Since the past decade, however, a new ?untraditional? frontier area has been targeted for rubber plantation development. In northern Myanmar in Kachin State, northern Shan State, and eastern Shan State, especially including the Wa Self - Administered Region, rubber concessions have swept across the hills in areas that were formerly swidden fields. While rubber in Mon State, Kayin State, and Tanintharyi Region follows more of a smallholder model approach but which is mostly embedded in Chinese rubber markets with Chinese middlemen, rubber development in northern Myanmar follows a private large-scale concessionary model mostly financed by Chinese investment from China?s national opium substitution programme. In the past few years new areas yet again in Myanmar are being targeted by large-scale rubber concessions, this time where smallholder rubber farms already exist, such as in Rakhine State, Mon State, Kayin State, and northern Tanintharyi Region. Local government officials, regional military commanders, and non-state armed groups have allocated rubber concessions through rubber-growing areas in Myanmar over the past decade. These concessions are located in what the government labels ?wastelands?, often in the uplands, which in fact are farmed by local households as ?taungya? (shifting cultivation) plots. Therefore, rubber development in Myanmar that follows the agro-industrial model, are causing serious impacts on local farmers? subsistence livelihoods, as is the case with other industrial agricultural | concessions. Rubber concessions in former customary swidden fields seriously impact local food security and resource access to forests and agro-fields, while rarely providing adequate alternative livelihoods through wage labour employment for local populations. New agricultural wage labour migration for large-sca le rubber concessions, especially in the new production areas in northern Myanmar, is introducing new socio-economic and political tensions to farming communities..."
Creator/author: Kevin Woods
Source/publisher: Global Witness
2012-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2014-12-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 964.46 KB
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Description: This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in December 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Hpa-an District, between November and December 2012. The report details the concerns of villagers in T?Nay Hsah Township, who have faced significant declines in their paddy harvest due to bug infestation. The community member also raises villagers? concerns regarding the cutting down of teak-like trees by developers, for the establishment of rubber plantations. The report describes how this activity seriously threatens villagers? livelihoods, and takes place via the cooperation of companies and wealthy individuals with the Burma government. The report goes on to detail demands placed upon villagers by the Border Guard Force (BGF) to contribute money to pay soldiers? salaries. Though the community member reports that these demands are not as forcibly implemented as in the past; villagers still face threats if they do not comply. Many villagers in the area, however, have chosen not to pay the money requested of them by the BGF.
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2013-03-29
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 128.52 KB
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Description: This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in July 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Nyaunglebin District between January and June 2012. Specifically discussed are Tatmadaw demands, including new gold mining taxes imposed by Light Infantry Battalion #264 and their demands for sentries, and the construction of a bridge inside Na Tha Kway village, which has displaced many villagers without providing compensation. This report also includes information about 400 villagers who gathered together on March 12th to protest the construction of Kyauk N?Ga Dam on the Shwegyin River in Hsaw Htee and Ler Doh townships; the opening of a Karen Nation Union (KNU) liaison office in Ler Doh town on April 9th, during which over 10,000 villagers awaited government officials; the arrival of representatives from the Norwegian government to the internally displaced persons (IDP) area in Mu The; and a visit by a United States Senator on May 29th in Ler Doh town and subsequently in Nay Pyi Daw. The report also describes work and food security problems in Nyaunglebin, where some villagers have migrated to neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia for employment, or to work in Yangon?s growing entertainment industry. The community member spoke with villagers in the area who expressed overall satisfaction with the peace and ceasefire process, and they hope that it will continue to be stable.
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 437.85 KB
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Description: The junta is working closely with China to push rubber production in northern Burma, but small-scale farmers are getting bounced around so the rich can tap the market... "Shwe pyu—white gold—is the name for unprocessed rubber in Burma, and the regime is handing out land concessions for rubber production that are as valuable as gold to wealthy, well-connected businessmen. But for small-scale farmers in northern Burma, shwe pyu is as far beyond their reach as gold in the remote Hukawng Valley..."
Creator/author: Zao Noam
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 6
2010-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: this issue focuses on how the expanding influence of Chinese interests in the Golden Triangle region, from rubber plantations to wildlife trading, is bringing rapid destructive changes to local communities. There are also articles on opium cultivation, mining operations, the mainstream Mekong dams in China, and unprecedented flooding downstream..... Mekong Biodiversity Up for Sale: A new hub of wildlife trade and a network of direct buyers from China is hastening the pace of species loss... Rubber Mania: Scrambling to supply China, can ordinary farmers benefit?... Drug Country: Another opium season in eastern Shan State sees increased cultivation, mulitple cropping and a new form of an old drug... Construction Steams Ahead: A photo essay from the Nouzhadu Dam, one of the eight planned on the mainstream Mekong in China... Digging for Riches: An update on mining operations in eastern Shan State... Washed Out: Unprecedented flooding wreaks havoc in the Golden Triangle.
Source/publisher: Lahu National Development Organization (LNDO)
2009-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-04-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.59 MB
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