Hakha Chin Land and Resource Tenure Resource and Land Chin Hakha in Change and Persistence
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PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN HAKHA CHIN LAND AND RESOURCETENURE PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN HAKHA CHIN LAND AND RESOURCE TENURE A STUDY ON LAND DYNAMICS IN THE PERIPHERY OF HAKHA M. Boutry, C. Allaverdian, Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone Of and Lives Land series Myanmar research Of Lives and Land Myanmar research series PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN HAKHA CHIN LAND AND RESOURCE TENURE A STUDY ON LAND DYNAMICS IN THE PERIPHERY OF HAKHA M. Boutry, C. Allaverdian, Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone Of Lives and Land Myanmar research series DISCLAIMER Persistence and change in Hakha Chin land and resource tenure: a study on land This document is supported with financial assistance from Australia, Denmark, dynamics in the periphery of Hakha. the European Union, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Published by GRET, 2018 the Mitsubishi Corporation. The views expressed herein are not to be taken to reflect the official opinion of any of the LIFT donors. Suggestion for citation: Boutry, M., Allaverdian, C. Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone. (2018). Persistence and change in Hakha Chin land and resource tenure: a study on land dynamics in the periphery of Hakha. Of lives of land Myanmar research series. GRET: Yangon. Written by: Maxime Boutry and Celine Allaverdian With the contributions of: Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone and Sung Chin Par Reviewed by: Paul Dewit, Olivier Evrard, Philip Hirsch and Mark Vicol Layout by: studio Turenne Of Lives and Land Myanmar research series The Of Lives and Land series emanates from in-depth socio-anthropological research on land and livelihood dynamics. Through various thematic and geographic foci, the series provides a rigorous analysis of people’s relationship to land in a rapidly changing social, economic and political context. It looks into the challenges that Myanmar people, the State and other stakeholders are facing in managing land and associated resources. Drawing ISBN 978–2–86844–322–9 from on-the-ground realities, it aims at informing policy dialogue. The series is peer reviewed by a committee of professionals and academics. Previous publication of the Of lives and Land Myanmar research series Boutry, M., Allaverdian, C., Mellac, M., Huard, S., San Thein, Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non (2017). Land tenure in rural lowland Myanmar: From historical perspectives Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License to contemporary realities in the Dry zone and the Delta. Of lives of land Myanmar research series. GRET: Yangon. Cover: all photographs by Celine Allaverdian, except photo of motorcycle https://www.gret.org/publication/land-tenure-in-rural-lowland-myanmar-from-historical- by Maxime Boutry perspectives-to-contemporary-realities-in-the-dry-zone-and-the-delta/?lang=en IV V IN MEMORIAM We dedicate this book to our friend Tin Myo Win, “saya Ice” A bright and passionate researcher A free spirit A hilarious buddy A dedicated comrade A companion in intellectual adventures We miss you eligion, it’s like underwea R ome, r body wear s no need to s Every how it VI VII Table of contents Abbreviations XIII List of figures XXI Acknowledgments XXV Executive summary XXVII I. INTRODUCTION 1 1. Presentation of Northern Chin and Hakha region 4 2. Studying customary land in the context of urbanization 6 2.1 Key concepts of customary tenure systems 6 2.2 Customary tenure systems and peri-urbanity: the case of Hakha 8 2.3 Land reforms and legal challenges for formalization of customary land tenure systems 10 3. Methodology 13 II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL CHANGE 19 1. Pre-British Hakha Chin social organization 19 1.1 Clans, lineages and Chin’s expansion/social units 19 1.2 Customary land tenure 21 2. British rule: Setting the limits, sowing new seeds of change 25 2.1 Pax Britannica 25 2.2 Fixed village boundaries 25 3. Individualization of society, and land tenure, through independence 29 3.1 Christianization and new resource distribution 29 3.2 The end of chiefdom and rise of the Yayaka: defining a new land tenure system 31 3.3 The post-independence period: redistribution of powers and increasing State interference 34 III. PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN LAND TENURE 41 1. Shifting cultivation land 41 1.1 Shifting cultivation and change of agricultural practices 41 1.2 “Communal” and “hereditary” plots, a nested rights system 47 1.3 An ever-adapting lopil system 51 1.4 Shifting cultivation and the specter of demographic growth 56 VIII IX TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. Permanent cultivation land 58 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 145 2.1 Introduction of paddy cultivation and terraces 58 2.2 “Dum-ization”: the introduction of permanent gardens VII. ANNEXES 153 and socio-economic change 67 Annex 1: Activity calendar 153 2.3 Permanent agriculture in Chin State under the statutory land framework 77 Annex 2: Farm typology developed by Frissard and Pritts (2018) 154 3. Grazing lands and animal husbandry 80 Annex 3: Chin traditional agricultural tools 155 4. Non-agricultural land uses and tenure 87 4.1 From sacred forests to watershed areas 87 4.2 Forest products 92 4.3 Housing land 97 4.4 Stone mining 102 5. Commoditization of land and change in inheritance patterns 103 5.1 Land markets 103 5.2 Changes in inheritance patterns 108 6. Livelihoods and evolving dependency on land access 109 6.1 Farming: a strategy for food security and resilience 109 6.2 Off farm activities 112 6.3 Migration and mobility 116 IV. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 121 1. Urbanization, customary land tenure systems and the State’s land framework 121 1.1 What kind of land uses and resources, what kind of tenure? 121 1.2 Customary land systems and equity 123 2. Recommendations for recognition of customary tenure 125 2.1 Why it is important to recognize shifting cultivation? 125 2.2 Beyond shifting cultivation: securing tenure over non-paddy permanent cultivation uses 126 2.3 The importance of forests 128 2.4 Pitfalls and complexities in formalizing customary laws, rules and regulations 128 2.5 Another approach to securing Chin land tenure 133 2.6 Land use planning 134 2.7 Strengthening local institutions 135 V. CONCLUSIONS 139 X XI Abbreviations AMD Agricultural Mechanization Department CARD Community Association for Rural Development CCER Chin Committee for Emergency Response CF Community Forestry CLS Customary Land tenure Systems CNF Chin National Front CT Customary tenure CORAD Chokhlei Organisation for Rural and Agricultural Development DALMS Department of Agricultural Land Management and Statistics DOF Department Of Forests FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GAD General Administration Department GRET Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques HCDC Hakha City Development Committee JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KMSS Karuna Mission Social Solidarity LCG Land Core Group LUC Land Use Certificate MoAI Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation MMK Myanmar Kyat NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLD National League for Democracy NLUP National Land Use Policy NTFP Non-Timber Forest Products SC Shifting Cultivation SLRD Statistical and Land Record Department SLORC State Law and Order Restoration Council SPDC State Peace and Development Council UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund VFV Virgin, Fallow and Vacant land VLMC Village Land Management Committee (refers to Village Tract management committee) WFP World Food Programme XII XIII Lai (Hakha Chin) terminology ar; arpi: chicken; brood hen. bawi: aristocratic families (see also phun). bawi pa: title employed by missionaries (bawi nu for females) in order to substitute themselves for the traditional chief (bawi). chia: commoners. busul: a variety of sulphur bean. chung: lineage. dum: garden, orchard. faang: millet. facang: paddy. fangvui: maize. hmunphiah kung: grass used for the fabrication of broom-sticks sold to the Hakha market. inn dum: home garden. kalh: plot of land received as dowry from the bride’s side. kawi: best friend of the bridegroom. khamphe: Shan coriander or Mexican coriander (Eryngium foetidum). Khuachia: the evil spirit. Khua hrum: guardian spirit of a location from which the chief receives his power. khua ram: a territorial unit generally corresponding to a village’s territory. lai lo: warm land, see lopil. lei: paddy terrace. lopil: a vast field (often the side of a mountain) constituting a communal shifting cultivation unit; the communal rotational shifting cultivation system is made of several lopil each in turn cleared, burnt and put into cultivation (1 to 3 years) before going back to fallow. Lopil are divided in to lai and zo fields, the first being “warm”, that is of lower altitude, and zo being “cold”, generally situated on the higher slopes. XIV XV LAI HAKHA CHIN TERMINOLOGY TERMS LAI HAKHA CHIN TERMINOLOGY TERMS lo: any plot within a lopil (see lopil). thathunh lo hmun: refers to as “inherited plot” in the text, it refers to a piece or hlawh bung: collective labour sharing systems. Each household accessing of land – generally of good quality – in a lopil, that was cultivated a plot in the lopil would need to contribute one man to the lopil by one’s ancestors, on which use rights have been transferred labor group. in inheritance. The heir has “priority” to use this plot where ti huai: evil spirit believed to protect the spring. The fear of ti huai was the lopil is chosen for shifting cultivation. However, this land is still a reason for protecting forest around springs before under communal management and it is generally not allowed Christianization. to sell, nor rent it. vok; vok pi: pork; brood saw. lo hrawh man liam: compensation for damaging a farmer’s field or garden.