Democrats step on to tricky terrain

The Democrat-led government says it will go ahead with its land reform programme in spite of its tarnished record over land distribution under the so-called Sor Por Kor 4-01 scheme. The move is nonetheless understandable for it intends to allocate unused land plots to farmers. The programme, if effectively and fairly implemented, should create income for farmers and alleviate poverty in rural areas.

The land reform plan will garner high attention from the public because if the government fails to handle it properly, it could create loopholes that will allow abuse and corruption. On the other hand, the public will not mind if large areas of land are distributed to needy farmers.

Every time the government announces a land reform policy, there are always allegations the distribution does not serve the objective, and that a large number of plots end up in the hands of politicians and their cronies.

To prevent such controversy, the government must first make clear the reasons for land reform.

Mingkwan Kaosa-ard, of Chiang Mai University, said the government will have to specify the objectives of the programme, and whether it is designed to mitigate the poverty problem or to solve land conflicts between the government and farmers. The former is related to social issues, while the latter is related to overlapping interests on the utilisation of land and whether some parties are illegally farming on state land.

First of all, land reform is not a guarantee that the problem of poverty can be solved because farming is no longer the main income source for rural people, according to Mingkwan.

Since 2004, money from non-farming activities for people in rural areas accounted for 60 per cent of their income. This means that although most people in rural areas are still involved in farming, their income from agriculture is now less than that from their supplementary earnings.

In addition to this, land reform alone will not help alleviate the problem of poverty if farmers are not trained to upgrade their agricultural skills or switch to alternative cash crops.

The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva apparently is not aiming to reform the land policy only from the point of view of poverty reduction; instead it aims to provide land plots for farmers to carry on their businesses.

At present there are a number of farmers operating on land in contentious areas such as forest reserves. Under the reform plan, for example, those who have been farming land in conservation areas for a certain period might eventually be given the land permanently. Based on this, land plots would thus be allocated to both poor and not-so-poor farmers.

It is understandable why the government wants to push through the plan. First of all, it will help score political points among rural people, who form the majority of the electorate. This is especially important for the Democrat Party, which so far has failed to expand its political base to the rural areas of the Northeast.

The Sor Por Kor 4-01 plan has stalled over the past year due to the political instability, and there are still a few million rai of land ready to be distributed. Nonetheless, the government will have to implement the project very carefully. It must come up with clear objectives and specify exactly who the recipients of the land will be. There will also be questions on how the authorities intend to ensure that the land goes to those who most need it and deserve it.

If this highly sensitive land reform scheme is not carried out properly and transparently, it will come back to haunt the Democrats as it did the last time the party was in power, when it led to the collapse of the Chuan Leekpai administration.