Preah Vihear Villagers Say Land Cleared by Rubber Company

Villagers in Preah Vihear pro­vince’s Kulen district claim a rubber company is beginning to en­cro­ach on their farmland, a villagers’ representative and human rights worker said yesterday, adding the company had cleared hundreds of hectares of community forest last year.

Hor Nead, Preah Vihear provincial coordinator for human rights group Adhoc, said Seila Damix Company had recently started clearing swathes of farmland belonging to dozens of families after it was granted a large economic land concession in the district a few years ago.

“Now, it has affected the farmland belonging to about 124 families,” Mr Nead said, adding that he estimated that the company could try to bulldoze up to 700 hectares of farmland.

Meas Ren, a representative of the villagers, said the company already cleared about 250 hectares of forestland in Srayong commune last year without the villagers’ consent. Locals had used the forest to collect non-timber products such as edible vegetables and rattan. “Now, we are afraid that our farmlands will be gone,” Ms Ren said, adding the company started clearing an area adjacent to her 5-hectare farm in recent months.

She said farmland in three villages in Srayong commune had been af­fected by the company’s activities. “People are afraid” to oppose the company’s work, she added.

Kulen district governor Chum Puy denied Seila Damix was encro­aching on farmland in Srayong commune. He said the company was preparing a 9,000-hectare rubber-growing concession, which had been scaled down from its original 13,000-hectare size in 2009 in order to avoid affecting local farmland. “All farmland has been excluded from the concessions and no land is affected,” he said. “The company has a clear policy to follow the law.”

Mr Puy instead accused some villagers of illegally expanding their farmland into the concession area.

Srayong commune chief Sath Sy backed up the governor’s claim. “They expand their farms on company land,” he said, also denying that the company had bulldozed 250 hectares of forestland used by the community.

Seila Damix company representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday.

According to Adhoc, the number of land disputes affecting more than 20 families increased from 150 in 2009 to more than 200 in 2010.

 

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