FIRST WEBINAR #2

FIRST Policy Assistance Facility: Land Tenure Issues in Myanmar

Monday 28 November 2016: 10.00-11.30 (UTC+1)

FAO-EU Partnership Programme

FAO-EU Partnership Programme

Paul De WitSenior Land Tenure Consultant,FIRST Programme, FAO Representation in Myanmar

Claudia AntonelliProgramme Officer for Rural Development and Food Security, EU Delegation to Myanmar

Key speakers:

FIRST WEBINAR #2

Myanmar at a glance• Emerging Nation after 50 years of isolation; • Strong identity and national ownership of

processes; need for external support; interest from outside to influence policy direction (geo-politics);

• A Union of Regions and (Ethnic) States; national and federal considerations for policy development;

• Comprehensive peace is still to be achieved and land policy may be a negotiation tool for interest groups;

• A strong civil society with different approaches to influence policy;

• Agriculture as a backbone of the economy for years to come but uneven geographic development and public investment;

• Diversified Agro-Ecologic Zones, mainly in peripheral areas, with good potential;

• Myanmar may be the last land frontier in SE Asia.

Add some maps

FIRST Webinar #2

Political economy of landBasic questions that need to be asked• Who are the actors?• What are the processes?• What are the objectives of each player? What is the interaction between the actors and the

processes; what are the drivers/motivations to do so?

Basic issues that need to be considered• Current conditions require to look at land in its broader context: issues of social justice, peace

negotiation, sovereignty, agricultural production factor, forest management; investment; hence a need for a holistic multi-sector approach;

• There is a new government but old administrations remain in place: 13,000 land administrators under new leadership;

• Constitutionally secured presence of the military in land administration; 15,000 local administrators; rule of law issues;

• A legacy of undue process implementation for public and private land acquisitions;• New investment law and pressure building up: rubber and oilpalm plantations; hydropower; Special

Economic Zones.

How should/could the policy facilitator take part in this process?

FIRST Webinar #2

Agriculture

Forests &NaturalResources

HomeAffairs

Civil Society

Institutions Actors Processes

Policy Development Facilitation

NLUP

FLEGTREDD+

Agric. Policy

Investment LawLand AcquisitionLaw

Parliament

FinancialPartners

FIRST

Agric. Policy Unit

LIFT IFPRI

MSU

National Land Use Council

ForestPolicy

FIRST Webinar #2

Former agricultural policy environment• National policy of food self sufficiency mainly

focussing on paddy rice and annual-set production quota;

• Overall goals with little consideration for local level/household FS and NS in the absence of access infrastructure and benefit redistribution streams;

• Transforming dryland farming into irrigation; 20,000 hectares new irrigation land versus 324 hectares of terrace farming (projections 2016-2020); unbalanced public expenditure (see graph);

• Transforming conventional into mechanized farming; challenges of land consolidation;

• Focus on eliminating shifting cultivation including agro-forestry systems – these areas are considered as “wastelands” or “VFV land”;

• Focus on larger scale agro-business models as a stand alone plantation model production system without considering smallholder sector linkages

• Little evidence based planning to promote regional/local comparative advantages for agricultural production systems; Agro Ecologic Zoning, Land Suitability Analysis, etc..

FIRST Webinar #2

Former land policy environment• Recent 2012 land policy/law reform is in fact new wine

in old bottles to support i) smallholder driven rice production and ii) larger scale plantations in support of agri-business;

• Massive land titling under the Farmland Law (9million titles issued over 2 years) provides tenure security for small holders (less for women though) but under strict conditions and with high risks attached; land markets

• In the absence of higher levels of Due Process and Rule of Law, results of land titling remain precarious;

• Secure land tenure cannot be acquired for lands different from narrowly defined “Farmland”; no tenure securisation for smallholder fish ponds or shifting cultivation lands; land titling is exercised over only 1/3 of the country´s total area;

• The Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Land Law is a legal tool for larger scale land acquisitions;

• Unclear definitions and perceptions of “Vacant”, “Virgin” and “Fallow” result in the alienation of land from customary rights holders who do not qualify to secure their land under the Farmland law;

• Significant parts of the VFV allocated land remain undeveloped; 75%-85% of 1million hectares in 2013;

• Most VFV land is allocated in ethnic states which provides an extra dimension for the peace process.

State/Region

Company Granted VFV land (hectares)

%area planted

  As of March 2013Naypyitaw 6 4,126 25,9Kachin 113 371,715 7,7Kayin 1 409 20,8Sagaing 29 166,631 0,9Tanintharyi 41 126,464 58,0Bago 15 6,227 35,5Magwe 19 35,629 29,6Mandalay 10 7,190 16,6Yangon 9 5,460 49,3Rakhine 10 45,487 0,4Shan 65 85,427 14,0Ayeyarwady 59 89,019 42,2Total 377 939,949 18,2

FIRST Webinar #2

Policy-Law impacts on food and nutrition security

Land (Use) titling under the Farmland law does not automatically result in achieving food and especially nutrition security at the local and regional level:• No tenure security can be established over diversified agricultural production systems;• Restricted and imposed crop choice for rainy and off season production; • Difficulties for changing land use under titled land to respond to market dynamics and climatic/social chocks and

opportunities; • Excessive measures for non compliance with prescribed crop use under titled land resulting in landless ness and

loss of livelihood;• Access to credit conditioned by crop choice, with rice and sugarcane as most interesting crops; • Gender insensitive land titling.

A combination of VFV and Farm Land results in: • Loss of diversified agricultural production systems and their conversion into mono-cropping systems;• Disappearance of common pool resources such as grazing lands, NTFP areas;• Alienation of land resulting in landlessness;• Deforestation and reduction of biodiversity as a tool to avoid land alienation and in search of more security of

tenure for customary land holders in the absence of specific legal tools.

FIRST Webinar #2

Strategic thinking for policy development

• Any new agricultural/rural development policy that addresses food and nutrition security will need to be underpinned by a new enabling land policy/law reform framework;

• Stakeholders are requesting “stop-the-bleeding” immediate reforms and this fast action will need to be compatible with a longer term vision;

• Policy should focus on smallholder sector including the poorest and the landless, as well as exploring SME, commercial agri-business sector with the necessary linkages through value chains;

• Common language, concerted efforts and coordination is required to support these processes.

FIRST Webinar #2

Current Reform Initiatives: National Land Use Policy

Structure and Contents • Private land and property rights• Customary land rights• Land use rights of ethnic

nationalities• Land at the disposal of the State• Land leases and grants• Equal rights of men and women• Changing land use under LUC• Restitution of rights

FIRST Webinar #2

• NLUP is a success story of transforming voluntary GGT principles into binding

national policy;

• Its inclusive and participatory approach sets a process benchmark for any future

policy development;

• Its legal outcome under previous government has acquired high levels of

legitimacy under the current government;

• The process is underpinned by an evidence base and addresses many challenges

mentioned above;

• Forestry rather than Agriculture has facilitated this process;

• Very effective donor coordination has contributed to make the process happen.

ProcessFIRST Webinar #2

Current Reform Initiatives: Agricultural Policy

Different policy working streams exist and outcomes will need to be harmonized and supported

Agricultural Policy 2016

(MoALI)

Agricultural Development Strategy and

GAFSP (MoALI, ADB,

FAO, LIFT) 2016

White paper(USAID, MSU,

IFPRI, … ) 2016

NLD Manifesto 2015 FAO - NAPA

2015-2016

Agricultural Policy 2015

(MoALI)

Korea Development

Institute

Farmers Affairs

Parliamentary Commission

FIRST Webinar #2

NLD Think Tanks ??

FIRST Policy Assistance Facility:Creating an enabling environment - 1

• Engagement of external Technical Assistance with all sectors; networking:– Public sector: MoALI, MONREC;– Civil society: Land Core Group and TNI-LIOH networks;– Private sector investment;– Financial partners: EU, USAID, SDC, DfID, ADB;

• Managing relationships and processes:– Internal MoALI relations; inter-sector relations between Agriculture

and Forestry; inter-financial partners; public institutions-financial partners; inter- service providers ;

• Supporting and strengthening the collaborative effort: EU-FAO- Civil society - donors (EU, USAID, SDC)- GoMM- Parliamentary commissions

FIRST Webinar #2

FIRST Policy Assistance Facility:Creating an enabling environment - 2

• Identifying practical and strategic entry points for engagement:– Strategizing and sequencing NLUP implementation;– Dealing with land under Agriculture Policy initiatives;– Creating and supporting the Agricultural Policy Unit;– Responding to ad hoc “problem solving” requests;– Feedback to multi-donor trust fund (LIFT); – Implementing the VGGT programme; – Using REDD+ and FLEGT for collaborative inter-sector action; – Creating land awareness under peace building initiatives.

FIRST Webinar #2

FAO-EU Partnership at work - 1 • Leveraging EU´s presence and support

– Strong engagement in the informal land donor group and ready to share this with the TA;

– Multi-donor fund board membership and advocacy work (LIFT); – Turning its own genuine interest, understanding and strategic quick assessment of

the sector into swift supportive action; – Informed support in choosing the political/policy battles.

• Leveraging EU’s diversified country programme as an engagement tool to address land issues– Rule of law: compliance with existing and new land legislation; – Governance: land administration service delivery; – Civil society engagement: informed participation in policy development processes;– Productive investment in the agricultural sector: development of a mosaic

development model with linkages between smallholders and agri-businesses with mutual benefits;

– FLEGT: legality definition to promote community land rights recognition; – Peace building and Human Rights issues: land governance as an essential part of the

Peace Process - Pinlone 21 ;

FIRST Webinar #2

FAO-EU Partnership at work - 2

• Leveraging FAO´s comparative advantages– Well established and respected partnership with the MoALI

covering a major relational vacuum;– Regional work on VVGT;– Subject matter expertise.

• Establishing workable and flexible relationships– Joint decision making between EU and FAO on ToR, selection of TA

and TA management;– Flexibility in outputs, deliverables and work programming;– Balancing informal and formal communication;– Permanent in-country presence of TA.

FIRST Webinar #2

FIRST WEBINAR #2 FAO-EU Partnership Programme

Thank you for your attention!

For more information on FIRST, please visit our website: http://www.fao.org/europeanunion/eu-projects/first/

FIRST WEBINAR #2

FIRST Policy Assistance Facility: Land Tenure Issues in Myanmar

Monday 28 November 2016: 10.00-11.30 (UTC+1)

FAO-EU Partnership Programme