The extent of land dispossession of the indigenous population in South Africa, by Dutch and British settlers, was greater than any other country in Africa, and persisted for an exceptionally long time. European settlement began around the  Cape of Good Hope in the 1650s and progressed northwards and eastwards over a period of three hundred years.

At the end of Apartheid, approximately 82 million hectares of commercial farmland (86% of total agricultural land, or 68% of the total surface area) was in the hands of the white minority (10.9% of the population), and concentrated in the hands of approximately 60,000 owners (Levin and Weiner 1991: 92). Over thirteen million black people, the majority of them poverty-stricken, remained crowded into the former homelands, where rights to land were generally unclear or contested and the system of land administration was in disarray (Hendricks 1990; Cousins 1996; Lahiff 2000).

As Myanmar’s junta prepared to step down from government, the military set about seizing public assets and natural resources to ensure its economic control in a new era of democratic rule.

Guns, Cronies and Crops details the collusion at the heart of operations carried out by Myanmar’s armed forces in northeastern Shan State. Large swathes of land were taken from farming communities in the mid-2000s and handed to companies and political associates to develop rubber plantations.

...There are many good books and resources on sustainable agriculture and
we have learnt much from them. However refugees are constrained in their
agricultural practices due to limited access to land, water and other resources.
This Handbook attempts to present a summary of simple adaptations of ideas
found in other books, manuals and resources on sustainable agriculture.
This Handbook is not a textbook as such, but a compilation of different
subjects for people to pick and choose. We know that it is not complete and

...Beginning in December 2010, Burmese Navy Unit No. 43, under the
command of Ka Dike-based government navy regional command head
quarters, began to confiscate the rubber plantations and household plots of
villagers on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, Yebyu Township, Tennaserim
Division. Since then, all land on which red signboards were placed by the
navy has been confiscated. This report documents the confiscation of over
1,000 acres of land on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. However, HURFOM found

Introduction: "Rural
community
is
one
of
the
strengths
in
country
building.

In
a
nation-­‐state
administrative
policy

changes

are
followed
by
economic
policy
changes,
then
by
changes
in
livelihood
strategies.

To

Summary: "For decades, international lenders, agencies, and foundations
as well as national and local governments have spent millions of dollars trying
to “modernize” the traditional practices of farmers in many mountainous
areas of Southeast Asia—an agenda driven by the belief that their age-old
shifting cultivation practices (known pejoratively as “slash and burn”) are
deforesting Asia. But a new look at how forests fare under shifting cultivation
(as opposed to under permanent agriculture) clearly demonstrates that efforts

Northern Burma’s borderlands have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades. Three main and
interconnected developments are simultaneously taking place in Shan State and Kachin State: (1) the increase
in opium cultivation in Burma since 2006 after a decade of steady decline; (2) the increase at about the same
time in Chinese agricultural investments in northern Burma under China’s opium substitution programme,
especially in rubber; and (3) the related increase in dispossession of local communities’ land and livelihoods

This Handbook is designed for both farmers and students to use in the field and during training. It is divided into eight sections, each one containing several topics and all illustrated with large clear pictures. The Handbook can be read from beginning to end or each topic can be read separately. Space is provided for readers to take notes and to add their own local knowledge...Our people have always been farmers. Farmers of the river lands, of the mountains, and of the forests.

This Handbook is designed for both farmers and students to use in the field and
during training. It is divided into eight sections, each one containing several
topics and all illustrated with large clear pictures. The Handbook can be read
from beginning to end or each topic can be read separately. Space is provided
for readers to take notes and to add their own local knowledge...Our people have always been farmers. Farmers of the river lands, of the
mountains, and of the forests. Due to civil war in Burma, more and more of

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in April 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Te Naw Th'Ri Township, Tenasserim Division between June 2010 and April 2011. The report details abuses related to land confiscation by Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) officials; forced labour, including forced USDP membership; and attacks on villages in hiding, including the burning of houses, food stores, a school dormitory and supplies by Tatmadaw forces.

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and international levels, and fostering new forms of cooperation and alliance-building. Most of our work is oriented towards, and carried out in, Africa, Asia and Latin America.