Large palm oil companies will lose their lucrative access to forest areas after the Royal Forest Department announced it would not renew plantation concessions.
Deputy director-general Somchai Masathian said the land plots should be allocated to local farmers rather than wealthy investors.
“The poor are our top priority in allotting land from palm plantations,” Mr Somchai said, pointing to recent disputes between locals and major palm oil companies over access to expired concession plots.
For 30 years, palm concession holders have paid just 30 baht per rai to the state, Mr Somchai said.
More than 200,000 rai of land has been granted to companies, including big players in the palm oil sector. Several of these companies have managed to secure upwards of 20,000 rai to plant their crop.
While the plantations have already brought their owners a fortune, thousands of locals have been denied access to farm those lands, Mr Somchai said.
He said it was for this reason that no
new concessions would be granted or renewed.
“Under the law, people should have equal access to forest land,” he said, adding that provincial governors had already been instructed to implement the new policy.
Mr Somchai said a forest management plan had been drawn up to deal with the land once the concessions expire. If a plot is found suitable for rehabilitation, the land will be reforested. If not, those plots will be allocated to the poor under a land redistribution scheme, he said.
Mr Somchai dismissed concerns that the decision will lead to a palm oil shortage.
He said the agency would examine details of recent land disputes between former concession holders and locals, including conflicts in Krabi province which escalated last year.
Several groups illegally occupied palm oil plantations in the southern province while business operators sought to renew their concession.
In November, a group of landless villagers blocked access to Krabi International Airport after they were kicked off a plot of land held by Univanich Palm Oil Plc after the concession had expired. They called on authorities to allocate areas of the plantation to the poor.
The new policy was announced as Royal Forest Department chief Chonlatid Suraswadi said 175,209 rai of encroached forest land had been reclaimed in the past year.
Mr Chonlatid vowed legal action against developers who built on preserved forest zones, adding that the next target is Khao Kho district in Phetchabun province. “This year will be a nightmare for bigwigs involved in land encroachment,” he said.