Land tenure in rural lowland Myanmar: From historical perspectives to contemporary realities in the Dry zone and the Delta

The study is available in English. The Burmese version is composed of its synthesis and executive summary.

This study emerged out of an identified need to document social processes leading to land insecurity, and those leading to investment and sustainable use of lands by rural populations. Focusing on the Delta and Dry Zone, the main paddy producing regions of Myanmar, this analysis unravels the powers at play in shaping rural households’relationship to land. From British colonization to the 2012 reforms, many issues have remained relatively unchanged with regards to local dynamics of landlessness, exclusion processes, local power plays, restrictions in farmers’ land rights and the State’s excessive focus on rice. In the midst of a fast evolving legal context, this work provides a typology of farmers and the landless and argues that more attention needs to be paid to understand the diversity of rural households and forms of landlessness.

The Of Lives and Land series emanates from in-depth socio-anthropological research on land and livelihoods dynamics. Through various thematic focuses – urban, peri-urban and rural land issues, migration, conflict and resettlement – the series presents a rigorous analysis of how people from various regions of Myanmar shape land relations in a rapidly changing social, economic and political context. From the exploration of grounded realities, the series aims to address some of the challenges that Myanmar people, the state and other stakeholders are facing in managing land and associated resources and seeks to provide insights to inform policy dialogue and law formulation processes. The series is peer reviewed by a committee of professionals and academics.