Villages failing to plant Jatropha to be fined or jailed
3 July 2007:The Burmese military authorities are on an overdrive to have Jatropha trees planted in Chin state, Myanmar and as usual the villagers are on the receiving end. Villages have been threatened with a fine of Kyat 10,000 (US $ 8) or imprisonment if they fail to convert to Jatropha in their farms.
Orders are out for 85 villages in Thantlang Township to cultivate Jatropha and it was issued by U Laito, Chairman of Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) of the Township. The plantations are to come up in farms this year.
The 85 villages in Thantlang Township have to cultivate at least five acres of Jatropha. They have also been forced to purchase seeds of Jatropha worth Kyat 120,000 (US $ 95) a tin from the authorities in Thantlang Township, said a local in Chin state.
“The villagers are purchasing the seeds from TPDC office and the seeds have to be sowed in farms belonging to villagers. We feel that the plantation project will fail as it had earlier,” a villager in Thantlang said.
Though the period of imprisonment has not been spelt out in the in the order, villages that cannot grown the trees are sure to be fined Kyat 10,000.
Villagers believe that the project is meant to siphon of money as a side income for government servants.
Last April, 700 acres of Jatropha plantations in Falam Township were damaged by forest fire. But the government did not take up a fresh plantation project to replace the one that was destroyed.
So far, the military government has not gone on record about the state of Jatropha plantation projects which began in 2004. – KNG.
