For people inside Burma life is a daily
struggle that becomes increasingly diffi
cult as each day passes. In a country that has an abundance of natural resources and once was the world’s largest rice exporter, it seems unlikely that the population would have fallen into such astute poverty. However, as Burma’s upper echelon continue to get richer, the people of Burma have become increasingly poorer, to the current state where they are unable to ensure their basic needs are being met.
However, this is not a sudden problem. The policies and actions of the Burmese military junta and to a lesser extent non-state actors including ceasefire and armed groups, over the past 40 years have oppressed the people and have consistently undermined their ability and capacity to survive – leading to the current crisis that the population of Burma are facing.
The vast majority of people from Burma rely on agriculture for their survival. In 2006 Burma’s agricultural industry made up 56.4 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employed 70 per cent of the nation’s workforce.1 Senior General Than Shwe, the leader of the Burmese military junta, acknowledged the sector’s importance by saying that Burma’s agricultural industry was “the nation’s main economic pillar”.2 Despite this, farmers are struggling to meet their basic needs and 75 per cent of the country lives below the poverty line.3
Whilst environmental conditions, such as droughts, floods, delayed wet seasons, etc. threaten Burma’s agricultural industry, the SPDC’s policies have gone a long way to make the livelihoods of the Burmese population increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to sustain.
For 40 years villagers who produced rice were forced to sell a quota of rice at a reduced price to the military or civil servants, on occasion at one-sixth the market price.4 The Myanmar Agricultural Produce Trade, a state agency, was responsible for the implementation of this paddy procurement policy. The amount the villagers had to sell differed depending on the size of their farm – the larger the farm, the larger the quota.
The SPDC announced in April 2003 that in 2004 the policy would be removed. At the end of 2003 the SPDC raised the salaries of civil servants by 5,000 Kyat per month to counter the upcoming rise in rice prices.5 The rescinding of the policy also allowed for rice to be exported privately, enabling villagers and citizens to sell their product to the highest bidder and turn a profit.6 However, this has not happened. The SPDC still controls the exporting and pricing of rice and has prohibited the export of rice on a number of occasions.7 Farmers are still required to sell quotas to the armed forces at well below market prices.
In addition to the paddy procurement policy, villagers are also forced to grow a dry season crop. Traditionally farmers produced one crop per year. Most villagers are swidden farmers who have many fields and rotate between these fields. This method allows nutrients in the soil to be replenished before the next crop is sown, resulting in higher yields.
The SPDC however, has been forcing framers to produce two crops per year. Growing a second crop does not give the soil adequate time to recover and restore much needed nutrients. This second crop, grown during the dry season put additional demands on already limited water resources.
these factors contribute to a lower crop yield for both the first and second crops. In some cases despite growing two crops a year, farmers are worse off than when they produced
only one. As farmers continue to grow more than one crop per year, yields continue to decrease and will continue to do so until they will not even be able to scratch out a subsistence existence. Farmers will no longer have a primary source of food or income.
Farmers can purchase fertilizer and other chemicals to counter the lack of nutrients in the soil; however, these are costly and not readily available in border areas. Additional equipment and labour is needed to tend to the dry season crops, which is another expense. As most farmers are making a subsistence living, they simply do not have the money to improve their yields.
Villagers, in fear of the SPDC, face having their land confiscated if they do not comply with the SPDC’s demands to grow a second crop or to sell their product for below market prices.
The 1953 Lands Nationalisation and Agricultural Lands Act, the 1963 Tenancy Act and the 1963 Protection of the Right to Cultivation Act effectively striped all farmers of the right to own land. Notification Number 4/78 further restricts people’s right to own land. Under the notification land can be confiscated if farmers fail to cultivate the land with a specific crop and produce a set yield, or if they failed to sell a set quota to the junta at a predetermined price. Farmers have no avenues to redress under these laws.
cooking
pots and plates are bayoneted and the resulting holes
make them useless
In addition to confiscating the land, the crops that are being grown on the land also become the property of the SPDC. Villagers do not only lose their source of livelihood but also they harvests, making them vulnerable to food shortages. The majority of people in Burma are deepened on agriculture for their livelihoods and there is a direct link between land confiscation and loss of livelihood.
Despite working for the state, civil servants face hardships in meeting their basic needs. Salaries are heavily taxed (some ordinary taxes, other arbitrary) and any salary increases have been nullified by the skyrocketing commodity prices. To counter low salaries and high commodity prices many civil servants have additional businesses to earn extra money for the families’ income, while others, resort to extortion by charging exorbitant fees for their services.
Day labourers also face severe economic difficulties. In 2003 labourers in eastern Burma earned approximately 600 Kyat. In one month a labourer would earn less than 3,000 Kyat. By comparison, a 15-kilogram tin of rice of poor quality rice cost 3,000 Kyat (an average adult would consume 15-kilograms of rice per month). Whilst labourers’ incomes have increased slightly over the last five years, it has not matched the increase in commodity prices. As villagers have faced these deficits year after year, they simply do not have the financial resources to cope.
Burmese soldiers extort food and possessions from villagers. Lists of demanded items are presented to village headmen who are required to collect the goods from villagers and deliver them to the soldiers. Failure to do so results in fines, punishment and/or future harassment. Ceasefire and armed groups also steal food and possessions.
In addition to the theft of food and belongings, the SPDC destroys food stores, crops and villagers’ possessions. Cooking pots and plates are bayoneted and the resulting holes make them useless. Entire villages are burned down and stores with the whole communities’ crops for the year are destroyed.
Villagers are not compensated for this loss. Statistics show that villagers whose food supply have been compromised are 4.6 times more likely to be injured by a landmine than those whose food supplies are secure, because they are looking for food in the jungle where there is landmine contamination.8 Furthermore, as a result of the villagers’ isolation, travel restrictions and poverty it is not possible for them to replace their belongings. Villagers are expected to silently manage somehow.
Moreover, only 40 per cent of the SPDC’s annual budget is covered through ordinary taxes.9 Printing money, foreign investment, arbitrary taxation and fines cover the 60 per cent deficit. While taxation is necessary in every country, in Burma taxation amounts to systematic extortion, undertaken with impunity.
Villagers in some ethnic areas cite arbitrary taxation and levies as the largest threat to their livelihoods. In areas where there are multiple actors (the Burmese army, ceasefire groups, armed groups) present, villagers face taxation from all groups. This multi-lateral taxation creates further hardships for villagers who are already facing difficulties making ends meet. In some instances villagers are not informed what the tax is for or how their money will be used – they simply pay the tax.
Furthermore, the inflation rate in Burma are unstable, with the official year-by-year inflation rates released by the SPDC for the period of 2001 to 2005 varying between 3.8 per cent (2004) and 58.1 per cent (2002). Commodity prices in Burma are unstable and often there is no coloration between the price of goods and people’s incomes. Additionally, commodity prices are susceptible to dramatically increasing with little warning. In Karenni State, in eastern Burma, in three months the price of a 15-kilogram tin of rice had increased 150 per cent from 3,000 Kyat to 4,500 Kyat in 2003. And last year the overnight increase in fuel prices spurned the Monk’s uprising in August and September.
Furthermore the SPDC restricts what commodities can be sold in villages. Local businesses (shopkeepers) have to bribe local Military Intelligence to bring restricted commodities into the village, including batteries, fertilizer, boots and alcohol. Fireworks, gunpowder and firecrackers are prohibited throughout many ethnic states. Unless they have bribed the local SPDC representatives, shopkeepers found stocking banned supplies will be interrogated and possibly tortured or executed.
The impact of the worsening situation in Burma is not confined to Burma’s boundaries – they spill over across international borders. As people are no longer have the ability to survive in Burma, they look to neighbouring countries for a better life. There are an estimated 700,000-registered refugees from Burma living in Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia,10 however, there are millions of additional economic migrants from Burma – Thailand alone houses approximately 2 million economic migrants. This mass exodus of people puts pressure on neighbouring countries to provide them with shelter, food, clothing, health care (including clean drinking water and sanitation) and access to education. Most of the countries that Burmese refugees and economic migrants flee to, are already facing severe poverty issues, and taking on thousands, if not millions, of additional people is a burden and stretches already thin resources further – threatening regional and international stability and security.
As Burma’s population falls further and further into a poverty abyss, the likelihood of them escaping decreases with each day. A population that is focusing day-to-day on their survival is easier to oppress, than one that has food security and their basic needs met. This strategy, whether consciously or unconsciously, has been used by the Burmese military junta to repress the population and continue their control over the country. The population needs assistance, however, they also need support to develop self-sustainability to ensure that they do not become dependent on aid. However, the situation in Burma cannot be rectified without genuinely addressing Burma’s complex issues in a participatory manner, which engages the whole nation’s citizenry.
Last year in September the people of Burma rose up in protest over the worsening economic situation and skyrocketing commodity prices. Over a million people joined the demonstrations despite the fact that they knew their peaceful protests would most likely be met with bullets and violence from the junta. They had the courage to demand change - do we have the courage to help them?
Footnotes
1 “Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2006”, Human Rights Documentation Unit, 2007
2 “Economic Development must be building up the Nation”, New Light of Myanmar, March 20th, 2004
3 Economist Country profile 2004, “Failing the People of Burma? A call for a review of DFID policy on Burma”, The Burma Campaign UK, December 2006
4 “Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2004”, Human Rights Documentation Unit, 2004
5 “Salary Hike for Burmese Civil Servants”, Democratic Voice of Burma, December 30th, 2003
6 “Burma’s rice policy chaos sows economic seeds of doubt”, The Financial Times, February 14th, 2004
7 “Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2004”, Human Rights Documentation Unit, 2004
8 “Chronic Emergency: Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma”, Back Pack Health Worker Team, 2006
9 “Inflation in Burma: When the State budget deficits are financed by the money printing machine”, Burma Issues Newsletter, August 2007
10 “The Security Dimension”, Burma Issues and Concerns Vol 4, Altsean, April 2007
To read the other articles in the April 2008 Newsletter please click on the links below:
cooking
pots and plates are bayoneted and the resulting holes
make them useless
