Landless farmers to use forests

Landless farmers to use forests

Buri Ram: The government is granting landless farmers permission to use forest land for farming in Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram and Nakhon Ratchasima, according to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Surasak Karnjanarat.

Farmers will have access to five forest reserves covering more than 1,400 rai in the three Northeastern provinces, Gen Surasak announced Monday.

The announcement was made ahead of the mobile cabinet meeting in Buri Ram Tuesday.

Gen Surasak said altogether 226 farmers will benefit.

Some, 41 rai of land in the southern section of the Phu Lanka national reserve in Chaiyaphum will be set aside for 41 farmers; 214 rai in the Khao Phanom Rung reserve in Buri Ram is designated for 70 residents; 537 rai in the Ban Krud Plang Ha reserve in Buri Ram is allocated to 72 people; and 667 rai of the Nong Waeng and Don Phayayen reserves in Nakhon Ratchasima is designated for 43 farmers.

These farmers will be able to live and farm the land legally. This will enable residents and communities to optimise land use in a constructive fashion as well as increase employment which can lift people's quality of life, said the minister.

Gen Surasak added the decision would also reduce land conflicts between residents and state agencies.

Also Monday, local residents affected by the construction of the Pak Mun and Sindhorn dams, as well as people facing eviction from the Pibun Mungsaharn community forest, have petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to tackle longstanding problems they face.

Peoples' livelihoods from fishing have been hit hard by the construction of the two dams and nothing has been done to address this for years, according to the locals.

About 50 representatives of groups affected by the dams and the eviction in Ubon Ratchathani travelled to Buri Ram to lodge their petition with Gen Prayut who was scheduled to address residents at the province's main sport stadium Monday afternoon.

The groups say they have been calling on state agencies for help for five years.

The groups arrived in Muang district in Buri Ram early Monday afternoon where they were met by security and administrative officials. They later drove to the 4th Infantry Battalion's 23rd Infantry Regiment where they waited for government officials to collect their petition.

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