Farmland Confiscation and Labour Exploitation: The Critical Conditions of the Lives of the Toiling Mass

By Workers and Farmers Solidarity League of Burma • March 28, 2011

Confiscation of farmland and exploitation of labour do not only amount to being invaded by the military government and its cronies. The farmers whose social and economic life dependent upon the land are subjected to being treated like slaves as well. Exploitation of labor not only affects the profit interests, but also produces the consequences like desolation of the dreams of the families and waste of our country’s prosperity. Moreover, it is a heinous crime against humanity of the plunders.

In fact, rural farmers represent 70 % of the population and agriculture is the main economy of the country. Over 40 % of GDP comes from farmland. According to SPDC official figures, there are more than 20 million acres of paddy fields, which produce 160 million baskets (tins) of paddy annually. Nevertheless, the lives of the majority who have contributed the large amount of country’s national income are still at a low ebb and bitterness despite of the increasing figures in ploughed fields and productivity.

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