Myanmar: The Next Great Land Tenure Reform?

Sep 20, 2016 | Roy Prosterman
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Since World War II, there have been five great Asian development success stories founded upon land tenure reforms that allocated land ownership, or equivalent long-term land rights, into the hands of small farmers. Will Burma be the sixth?

A rare opportunity is knocking, to directly benefit as many as four million of the poorest families on earth, and beyond that to support broader economic growth and the crucial processes of peaceful democratization in a country of 50 million. The place is Burma (also known as Myanmar) and the opportunity is reform of land tenure in favor of the rural poor.

While land rights reform in Burma will have some parallels to these prior successful reforms, it is likely that Burma’s reforms will embody major additional elements reflecting both the specifics of rural poverty and landlessness in that country.