Foreigners 'own land through Thai nominees'

The government has found that foreigners in Thailand are controlling vast areas of land - from 10 rai up to 10,000 rai - through rice-farming nominees, in breach of the Foreign Business Act (FBA).

By law, land for agriculture is restricted to Thais only.

Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Business Development Department had found foreigners owning tracts of land in the North and Central provinces.

"The government has found that some foreign companies have purchased, through brokers, vast territory for rice farming. Some small areas of land are also in foreigners' hands, mostly through marriages to Thai women," said Alongkorn.

The ministry has not named the companies or nationalities for fear of compromising the investigations.

To protect Thai rice-farming businesses and land ownership, Alongkorn said the government would continue to examine whether the Foreign Business Act had been violated.

The DSI will consider taking up the case if it finds foreign firms had intentionally violated the law, Alongkorn said.

The Business Development Department has been investigating documents and monitoring foreign companies' movements for action that might conceal their business objectives.

Alongkorn said he had also ordered related agencies to investigate land owned by Thai women, to see if they are acting as nominees for foreigners engaged in farming businesses.

There have been rumours that foreign investors, especially from Taiwan and the Middle East, have invested in rice farms in the Central and Northern provinces, raising concerns among Thai farmers and authorities.

Despite this stringent enforcement of the Foreign Business Act, Alongkorn said the Kingdom still welcomed foreign investors.

As a major world food crop producer, the Thai government has been prompt in signing trade contracts with any country wanting to ensure its food security, he said.

Ministry land bill takes aim at foreigners

Law to be first to 'fully protect' Thai farmland

-- Bangkok Post Wed 19 August 2009

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is drafting a bill to protect rice paddies from a feared massive land grab by foreigners.

The draft law will be the first to fully protect farmland, deputy permanent secretary for agriculture Thawatchai Samrongwattana said.

The bill will set out clear measures to prohibit foreigners from buying land through Thai nominees, he said yesterday.

Recently, rumours have spread that foreign businessmen have been snapping up rice-growing land, particularly in central Thailand, through proxy Thai companies to produce rice and other crops to ensure future food supplies for their own countries, or to fend off starvation at home.

Transnational business consortiums are said to be holding the land through Thai nominees, which is against the law.

Some Thai farmers are reportedly leasing land they previously owned but have since sold to the foreigners' proxy firms, observers said.

The bill will also address land ownership by foreigners who marry Thais.

Under the draft bill, each land purchase by Thais married to foreigners would be closely scrutinised by Land Department officials and a provincial farmland protection panel, Mr Thawatchai said.

He said the bill would allow the immediate revocation of the rights of plots found to be held by foreign businesses through Thai proxies. The committee would be authorised to arrange the resale of such land.

About 60 million rai of irrigation land, including areas where the Land Department will build reservoirs, and land belonging to the Agricultural Land Reform office, would be protected by the bill, he said.

The agriculture minister will table the draft bill for the cabinet's consideration next month before submitting it to parliament for approval, Mr Thawatchai said.

"The ministry intends the bill to become law within this year," he said.

The bill would allow for a fund to be set up to protect farmland. The government would be required to allocate a budget to manage the fund and buy back land from foreigners. Farmers could also take out loans from the fund to invest in developing the land for agricultural purposes, Mr Thawatchai said.

A central committee would be set up under the bill with the prime minister as chairman. It would comprise experts and representatives from the private and agricultural sectors.

The committee would regulate the use of farmland or revoke the ownership of farmland that had been purchased through nominees.

A provincial land protection committee would also be set up and chaired by a provincial governor.

Land owners could not appeal the central committee's decision, he said.

The deputy permanent secretary said the bill had been modelled on similar laws in foreign countries, such as Japan and the US, which heavily regulate land ownership.