Natural Resources and Environment Minister Chalermchai Srion has ordered the director-general of the Forest Department to instruct all provincial governors to check whether any of the 80,000 hectares (500,000 rai) of state land distributed to landless farmers has been illegally sold to private companies or nominees of Chinese investors.
The order comes after a Senate committee, chaired by Senator Chivaparb Chivatham, launched an investigation into reports that several large plots of land in the eastern provinces of Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, and Trat, originally allocated to poor farmers, have been acquired by nominees and turned into durian plantations.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Chalermchai Srion
These plantations reportedly include artesian wells sunk without permission and a man-made lake filled with water illegally diverted from a stream.
Minister Chalermchai said that any land distributed under the National Land Policy Committee, or the “Khor Thor Chor” scheme, and later sold to outsiders will be confiscated and converted into community forests or reforested.
The Forest Department donated 1.15 million hectares (7.2 million rai) of degraded forest to the National Land Policy Committee for distribution to landless farmers in plots of 3.2 hectares (20 rai) each, with the condition that the land cannot be sold to outsiders.
To date, about 80,000 hectares (520,000 rai) of degraded forest have been distributed to over 78,000 families, while the remaining land has yet to be allocated.
Forest Department Director-General Surachai Achalaboon stated, however, that only a small number of farmers were found to have sold their land to landlords or companies acting as nominees for Chinese businessmen.
He also affirmed that the illegal sale of land will not affect the overall land distribution scheme.
