WORLD RURAL WOMEN’S DAY
OCTOBER 15


Women and Land Rights Struggle: The experience of Thailand
By Chonthira Thipaksorn and Pimporn Sunan

Background
1961: Reform of national development through National Economic and Social Development Plan Background (cont.)

1985: Department of Land Development implemented a project on Rapid Survey on Land Title Deed Issuance though WB loan Background (cont.)

1995: Thailand became a member of the WTO Background (cont.)

1997: National economic crisis

Current Problems and Issues of Land Resource

• Unequal land distribution and land holding
  Most land is concentrated in just a handful of people. Only about 10% of the population owns more than 100 rai of land (15 hectares), whereas 90% owns < or = 1 rai (1/6 ha). About 800,000 families have no land to till and have become tenants.”
  
  
• Inappropriate Use of Land
  • 13 million rai of existing paddy rice fields are considered not appropriate for rice farming.
  • 30 million rai are misused for other crops.
  • 20 million rai (3.2 million ha) have been left waste.
• Landlessness
  1998
  • More than 500,000 families or three million people have no land to till.
  • Of the total 6 million farmers, 1 million rent their land.
  • 1.5 million farming families have encroached and settled on public land or forest reserves.
  • In 2000, the number of landless farmers rose to 800,000 families.

Case Study:
Land Reform in Ban Pong, Ampur Sansai, Chiang Mai Province


Before reform:

• Originally community’s communal land, but later was taken away by private land investors
  
  
• derelict private land of 30 years, dense vegetation cover, community did not own land
  
  
• Women in particular felt their food sovereignty and food security were being threaten
  
  
• Women had to shoulder more burden in securing domestic food supply
  
  
• Community decided to take their own initiative to reform the land
  
  
• Date of community’s land reform: 11 March 2002
  
  

Community’s Initiatives in land reform

Holistic community’s actions includes:

• Establishment of water management system
• Demand for transparent process for the land title deed issuance
• Joined Thai Network for Land Reform under the Northern Peasant Alliance

Present situation:

• Community can farm and sustain their livelihoods
• Establishment of community’s fund to support their initiatives and group members
• Fund raising through local cultural ceremony
• Existence of community’s title deeds and saving group
• Monitor, advocate policies at the local and policy level

Ban Mae Pong after reform

• Some of the members are being prosecuted and being arrested.
• Being threaten by the other land investors

Solutions for Land Crisisproposed by Network for Land Reform

• Fair distribution and sustainable management of land that are supported by mechanisms at the national and local levels including
• Land use planning
• Zoning of forest land and non-forest land throughout the country
• Appropriate use of land for the preservation of bio-diversity and sustainable land management, carried out by communities and genuinely leads to poverty alleviation.
• Progressive land taxation
• Preservation of hinterland and limits on land holding
• Land reform measures
  • Unused state and private land whose title deeds have been wrongly obtained, should be re-assigned for land reform programs to address sufferings of landless farmers.
  • Land reform bank
  • Intervention in food market through subsidization and other measures. Support for farmers to fully utilize their land obtained under the land reform schemes.
  • Self-determination of local people