Renewal of Sor
Por Gor land
reform in Thailand?
What exactly is it?
By Jon Fernquest 
The new Abhisit government plans to revise the
old Sor Por Gor 4-01 land
reform program. In the past this government programme has been surrounded with scandal, so many people are concerned (Read article).
Under the Sor Por Gor programme a land reform committee allotted land to poor farmers and issued Sor Por Kor land ownership documents.
This land could not be bought, sold or pledged as collateral for a bank loan. It could only be transferred to heirs.
(See photo of ceremony handing Sor Por Kor land document to poor farmer)
land reform programme
- a government programme to give land to landless poor people to farm
การปฏิรูปที่ดิน
scandal - shocking and immoral behaviour เรื่องอื้อฉาว
allot X to Y - give to Y a piece of something X แบ่งสันปันส่วน
pledge as collateral for a bank loan - if you can't pay back the loan the lender takes the collateral (land) ในกรณีที่ไม่สามารถจ่ายหนี้ที่กู้มาได้ ที่ดินที่นำมาค้ำประกันจะถูกยึดเป็นกรรมสิทธิ์ของผู้ให้กูู้้
transferred to heirs - given to people in your family such as wife and son after you die ตกทอดเป็นมรดกของผู้สืบสกุล
scandal - shocking and immoral behaviour เรื่องอื้อฉาว
allot X to Y - give to Y a piece of something X แบ่งสันปันส่วน
pledge as collateral for a bank loan - if you can't pay back the loan the lender takes the collateral (land) ในกรณีที่ไม่สามารถจ่ายหนี้ที่กู้มาได้ ที่ดินที่นำมาค้ำประกันจะถูกยึดเป็นกรรมสิทธิ์ของผู้ให้กูู้้
transferred to heirs - given to people in your family such as wife and son after you die ตกทอดเป็นมรดกของผู้สืบสกุล
Prohibiting buying and selling of land for a reason
There are good reasons for not allowing land owned by poor farmers to be bought or sold or pledged as collateral for loans.This rule may actually protect farmers and their families. If a farmer has a bad year then the bank might seize the farmers land for non-payment resulting in one more landless farmer.
In fact, it is farely common for cash rich families to buy up plots of land sold at low prices during bad economic times and then just sit on them as an investment. In rich countries this might be fine, but in poorer countries this is a recipe for lots of farmers without land. With few buy and sell transactions, many rural areas have two types of people selling land, rich families who don't have to sell, asking inflated prices, and poor families who need the money quickly who must sell immediately at a lower than market price.
On the other hand, getting loans to pay for fertilizer and seed is more difficult when land can't be pledged as collateral. Sometimes unreasonable restrictions have been placed on farmers with this kind of land. For example, farmers in Phuket could not carry on an OTOP or tourist-related business together with their farming.
In Thailand only certain kinds of land can be bought and sold or leased, land with either: 1. a Chanote document, or a 2. Nor Sor Sam Gor document. A Chanote is the equivalent of a land title deed in a western country like the US, but very little of Thailand's land has a Chanote yet:
Chanote
land Title Deed True title deeds ( Chanote ti din ) are indeed only to
be found in the most and longest developed parts of Thailand and
account in total for only a very small proportion of all the land in
the country. Chanote titles, issued by the Provisional office
of the
Thai Land Department, are accurately
surveyed, plotted in
relation to a
national survey grid and also marked by a unique numbered
marker posts
set in the ground. It is the long term goal of the Land
Department,
which all land in Thailand will be covered under the Chanote title
system, but with current available funds, manpower, and
resources this
process will take several decades to complete (Source: Siamfirm.com).
X, on the other hand Y - X
is true in some cases and Y is also true in some cases (this is why
President Harry Truman wanted a one-handed economist)
ในทางกลับกัน
a land title deed - a document that proves someone is the owner of land โฉนดที่ดิน
provisional - temporary, not for all time ชั่วคราว
surveying - the science of accurately determining on the earth the position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes (See Wikipedia) การสำรวจ
land surveyed - accurate boundaries of the land were mapped and marked การรังวัดที่ดิน
plotted - mapped, a map was made with them แผนที่
X in relation to Y - the location of X was given by showing where X was compared to Y นำมาเทียบกับ
national survey grid - the national system for mapping and locating land แผนที่หรือรายละเอียดที่ดินที่มีอยู่ที่กรมที่ิดิน
manpower - workers แรงงาน
a land title deed - a document that proves someone is the owner of land โฉนดที่ดิน
provisional - temporary, not for all time ชั่วคราว
surveying - the science of accurately determining on the earth the position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes (See Wikipedia) การสำรวจ
land surveyed - accurate boundaries of the land were mapped and marked การรังวัดที่ดิน
plotted - mapped, a map was made with them แผนที่
X in relation to Y - the location of X was given by showing where X was compared to Y นำมาเทียบกับ
national survey grid - the national system for mapping and locating land แผนที่หรือรายละเอียดที่ดินที่มีอยู่ที่กรมที่ิดิน
manpower - workers แรงงาน
The land reform programme under the Samak government was to locate unused government land and then rent out the land for very small fee like 20 baht per rai instead of handing out Sor Por Kor documents (Read article).
Around 2002 Prime Minister Thaksin inspired by the ideas of Hernando de Soto's book The Mystery of Capital took steps to make sure that poor people had full property ownership and deed (Chanote) so that they could use the land as collateral for loans. This supposedly would mean farmers who received Sor Por Kor deeds would receive full title to their land (See discussion one and two; Source: Pasuk and Baker (2004) Thaksin: The Business of Politics in Thailand, Chiangmai: Silkworm, pages 116-117)
