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In Pictures

Gallery|Business and Economy

The human cost of palm oil production in Myanmar

Aggressive expansion of plantations enacted in southern provinces largely ignoring environment and workers’ rights.

Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Yuzana's palm oil plantation outside Kawthaung, Myanmar. Huge plantations were built after thousands of acres of rainforest were cleared in southern Myanmar. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
By Taylor Weidman
Published On 4 Jan 20174 Jan 2017
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Kawthaung, Myanmar – In 1999, when Myanmar was ruled by a repressive military regime, the government laid out a plan for development which included an aggressive expansion of palm oil in its southern provinces.

Since then, 44 large-scale palm oil companies have transformed 350,000 hectares of pristine jungle into a series of plantations.

Although the inception of the palm oil sector in Myanmar has provided regular jobs to unskilled labourers seeking regular employment and is increasing the internal supply of cooking oil within the country, the industry at large is being criticised on a number of fronts.

Environmentalists decry the ecological devastation and habitat loss associated with clear cutting rainforest and implementing a monoculture system of palm oil.

READ MORE: Hydropower and the cost of life in Myanmar

In addition, migrant workers from other parts of the country comprise the majority of the workforce on these plantations. And many of these men and women tell stories of the difficulties they have faced working on the plantations, from receiving no income while clearing the thick forests, to having months worth of wages withheld.

There is a lack of proper educational and health resources, and inadequate living facilities, workers say, adding that current wages are so low that they cannot return to their home village.

Moreover, many oil palm plantations were built in areas where ethnic groups were displaced due to the decades-long civil war that still persists today.

Companies and individuals opportunistically seized the village lands – often illegally. The now internally displaced groups have returned to their villages only to find them converted into plantations.

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Companies have gone so far as to sue some of these villagers, putting them in a legal quagmire as they fight these illegal land grabs.

IN PICTURES: Myanmar’s ‘crony capitalists’

Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Ni Ni Win, 30, harvests palm fruit at Asia World palm oil plantation in Bank Mae Village, Myanmar. As a harvester, Ni Ni Win makes 30 kyat ($0.02) per bunch and averages 5,000 kyats ($3.76) per day during low season; her salary doubles in high season. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
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Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Fruit bunches are collected from across the plantation and brought to a central mill for processing. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Workers sit atop the harvest on the back of a truck on a palm oil plantation in Bank Mae Village. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Here, workers take the softened oil palm fruit and prepare it to be pressed into oil. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
A woman cuts oil palm fruits away from the fruit bunch in an oil mill. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Palm fruit is softened through a steaming process. This small mill produces 15-20 tonnes of oil in a day. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
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Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Palm oil drips into a bucket after being pressed in an oil mill. The oil is sent to Yangon, where it is used for cooking and other food products. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Four families live in each row house, which are not equipped with basic amenities, such as electricity or running water. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
U Hla Myint, 65, sits inside his house in a small village outside Kawthaung town, where people working for a palm oil production company stay. U Hla Myint and his wife only retired five years ago and are now supported by their two sons. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
A Buddhist shrine sits in a migrant worker's home. Workers tell stories of the company withholding their wages, thereby restricting the financial resources that they would need in order to return home. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
The village has no running water, as result families are forced to wash and bathe in a nearby stream. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
A woman dries betel nut fruit in her village. After fleeing the area due to fighting between the Myanmarese military and rebel groups, these families returned to find that companies had seized and transformed their villages into plantations. These families now live between the palms, in constant fear of being kicked off their ancestral lands. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Many men on this plantation, some of whom have been here for over a decade, want to return home. With their low wages, however, few can afford the trip for their entire family and feel stuck. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]
Palm Oil in Myanmar/Please Do Not Use
Children play in a small village where migrant workers live. There is a school near the mill, but children here attend a local military outpost school instead because they believe it offers a better education. [Taylor Weidman/Al Jazeera]


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