Myanmar: Kachin IDPs Fear Land Grabs in the Villages They Once Called Home

Jan 19, 2018 | Htun Khaing, Frontier
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Companies are establishing banana plantations on land in Kachin State left idle and untended because of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army, say farmers displaced by the conflict. They say areas that were deserted amid heavy fighting after a 1994 ceasefire between the Tatmadaw and KIA collapsed in 2011 are busy again. Border trade, which had fallen into the doldrums in Kachin for much of the past six years, has also revived and crossings are busy with trucks entering China loaded with products from Myanmar, particularly corn, banana, rice, watermelon and animal feed.