Laos: The resentment rises as villagers are stripped of holdings and livelihood

The blackened tree trunks say it all. Three times in recent months these tracts of palm oil plantation have gone up in smoke, along with plants and machinery. The neighbouring coconut operation suffered the same fate, but there the Thai owners replanted. Here, the Malaysians had had enough and called it a day.

The sabotage is a testament to growing local resentment at the way land is being sold off to big foreign investors with deep pockets. At face value, leasing agricultural concessions looks like a godsend for Laos, a poor country eager to shed its stigmatic designation of “least developed country.”


With a population of less than six million in a country half the size of France, land is its biggest asset. And as food and commodity prices have surged over the past 18 months, neighbouring nations have been snapping up vast tracts on long leases. “The situation is completely out of control,” said one foreign advisor in Vientiane. “It’s a fire sale. People in power are just desperate to get their hands on the money so they don’t miss out. For the companies coming in it’s a massive land grab.”

Recently, Chinese officials visited Vientiane seeking to lease 1m hectares for rice. Flush with cash from oil that hit $150 a barrel, Middle East states had the same idea, trying to secure 200,000 hectares. Kuwait’s prime minister and foreign minister paid two visits in two months.

“Countries were traumatised by the food crisis,” said a foreign land consultant in Vientiane. “They’ve money to spend and they’re shopping around.

“It doesn’t matter that oil prices have gone off. They feel this food problem will come back to haunt them. Even if they start something now, they know it’ll take years to reach 100% production.”

Guardian