made the latest move in the junta’s efforts to take back state land from those having illegal possession. This has been at the top of the NCPO’s agenda from the time it staged the coup two years ago.

PM Prayut signed a new NCPO order, which in effect would empower concerned state officials to take back forest land from encroachers, and allocate it to poor farmers under the Agricultural Land Reforms Office (ALRO)’s supervision.

The order said vast land area earmarked for allocation has been extensively encroached on while the plots already allocated have changed hands from farmers to big investors.

Hence the government intends to take such lands back and redistribute it to poor farmers, who are expected to be the real beneficiaries of the scheme.

The problem of lack of land to sustain the livelihood of poor farmers has long been a challenge for many governments in the past. What complicates matters is that many of the large number of such farmers listed with the ALRO, which reflects the scale of the problem, are found to be the same persons who have a role in the alleged illegal occupation of forest areas.

As such, if a government managed to tackle this problem, it is always believed that a conflict concerning forestland occupation would be relieved to some extent. That’s crucially part of the reason why the ALRO’s work is critically important and gets close attention from all governments. The other reason is that those who are found to have received the ALRO land from farmers are often influential figures, including politicians.

According to the ALRO, around 34.7 million rai has been allocated to 2.1 million farmers. But over time, these deeds have changed hands – which is addressed by the NCPO order – and a lot of illegal occupation of land has been reported. The order, coming at a time when state mechanisms are generally viewed as weak, is seen as a medicine for the malady and has won praise from the public.

However, as revealed by the latest statistics from the Agricultural and Cooperatives Ministry observers may have to rethink their stance.

The ministry, which supervises the ALRO, found almost 500,000 rai being occupied is actually land in stock pending agricultural land reform procedures. Only a relatively tiny portion is found to have changed hands – some 5,000 rai – compared to the almost 35 million rai already allocated to farmers. The order stipulates that those occupying the land in stock must prove their land use rights by showing validated documents, and if they are unable to do so they must immediately return the land to the ALRO under the NCPO order.

The latter may be a lengthy process, as it has already passed verification of rights, whereas there has long been a number of reports of a huge amount of ALRO lands changing hands for years.

The latest figure shown by the ministry, therefore, has raised a fresh question as to whether the NCPO is really serious about tackling the core problem of the ALRO lands being sold.

The NCPO had previously issued at least two orders – 64 and 66 – when it first took office two years ago, to take back forest land encroached upon in protected forest areas, but as the statistics from concerned forest agencies have shown, cases of fresh forest encroachment are far fewer in number compared with the plots changing hands and becoming court cases.

Despite claims of success by the government in reclamation of encroached forest land, it is undeniable that the plots in conflict are still far greater in number, and the government can hardly do anything about it.

To demonstrate that it’s really serious about it, the NCPO and the government need to show that they have placed the right focus on the problem and come up with more responsive measures. Without that, we can never be sure that our forestland or agricultural reform land taken back by the state will go to the right recipients, and it’s not just window-dressing to buy time.

Piyaporn_won@nationgroup.com