Thursday, 15 October 2009 16:32
http://www.kachinnews.com/
Land confiscation by the Burmese military junta has left indigenous Kachins in food-rich Hukawng (also spelled Hugawng) valley in northern Kachin State fighting for survival, said local sources.
Now they cannot receive relatives and guests in their homes because they are unable to serve them proper meals, according to residents of Danai (also spelled Tanai), the main town in the valley.
A Thai-styled factory is under construction beside Ledo Road in Hukawng Valley
Now, they have lost all their farms to the junta’s confiscation drive. Over 200,000 acres of land in the valley were seized and handed over to the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company in 2006, said local Kachins.
Since late 2006, the Yuzana Company has been cleaning up the deep forests along Ledo Road on the left and right, for Cassava and Sugarcane cultivation. It has also constructed two large Thai-style factories and worker’s blocks.
As a result, most indigenous Kachins, original land owners of the valley have no more land and farms to cultivate traditional rice-paddy, fruits and seasonal crops, said locals. They are now working in the company, they added.
People are now struggling to eke out a living in Kachin villages between Namti and Danai along the Ledo Road, (also called Stilwell Road)--- Dum Bang, Nawng Mi, Sahtu Zup, Wara Zup, Ting Kawk, Bangkok, Kawng Ra and Danai, according to the villagers.
Quite a few villages have to cultivate some poppy for survival even as opium demand is high in the local gold mines. A Viss of opium can be sold for over 1 million Kyat (1Viss = 1.6 Kilograms), added locals.
Slg. Tsa Ji, General Secretary of Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) who published a report called "Valley of Darkness" told KNG today, "The sustainable living and the traditional livelihood of the indigenous Kachins will be eliminated as long as the Yuzana Company is stationed in the valley".
On the flip side, the valley has become one of largest gold mining areas in the country after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta in February 24, 1994.
Extensive gold mining and expansion of cultivation in the natural forests by the Yuzana Company has been severely damaging the World’s Largest Tiger Sanctuary in the valley recognized by the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 2004, said local Kachin watch dog groups.
Now, the Myitkyina-based World Food Program (WFP) under the United Nations is distributing much-needed rice to Sadung areas in east Kachin State, where the indigenous Kachins cultivate poppy rather than rice-paddy for survival, said WFP sources.
Most people in Kachin State are farmers. But they cultivate paddy incurring losses because they do not get any support from the military regime and they have to sell paddy to the junta at fixed-reduced prices, said local farmers.
The junta claims that Kachin State is fourth largest rice-bowl in the country.
--
If you want to read more related stories, please log on to www.kachinnews.com and www.kachinnews.com/kachin.
