Confiscated farmland returned to farmers in Myittha, Mandalay Region

More than 120 acres of confiscated farmland was returned to their original owners in Myittha, Mandalay Region, yesterday in the presence of Vice President U Henry Van Thio, bringing the amount of farmland released to farmers to 2,156 acres.

Speaking at the ceremony to return the farmland to 53 farmers that had been confiscated by the Ministry of Defence, Vice President U Henry Van Thio urged the institutions concerned to continue to release the farmland they have confiscated as part of efforts for the development of the agricultural sector, on which more than 70 per cent of the rural population depends on for their livelihood.

“In some cases, it is found that land ownership disputes and squatters issues have caused delays for returning the farmland to owners, (even) though the ministries concerned had abandoned the farmland,” said the Vice President.

To speed up the scrutiny of confiscated farmland issues, four work committees formed with Deputy Ministers from relevant ministries have carried out their works in regions and states, and have assisted in solving confiscated farmland issues, he added.

In his address, Vice President U Henry Van Thio also urged the farmers in the country not to sell their land to others, pledging that the rays for socio-economic development are shining as the government was making efforts to establish wholesale markets for crops and contract farming in regions and states.

Myanmar’s rice exports this fiscal year were more than 3 million tonnes, the highest in over 70 years. Myanmar is one of the region’s top rice exporters.

Myanmar’s agricultural products exports in the 2017-2018 fiscal year was worth more than US$3 billion, and income from rice exports in the same fiscal year reached more than US$ 1.1billion, making up more than 37 per cent of the income of the agricultural exports this year.

Vice President U Henry Van Thio urged the farmers not only to grow crops for domestic food sufficiency, but also to grow marketable crops for export.

At yesterday’s ceremony, Chief Minister of Mandalay Region Dr. U Zaw Myint Maung reported, in his capacity as Chairman of the Mandalay Region Committee for Reviewing Farmland and Other Confiscated Land, on the progress of settling the land confiscation issues and returning the land to farmers in Mandalay Region.

Afterwards, Lt-Col Sein Lin Tun of No.1 farming and livestock breeding (Mongmaw) farmland of the Central Command handed over the documents related to the releasing of confiscated farmland to an official of the general administration department in Myittha.

Myanmar News Agency

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar