Across
Cambodia, newly minted sugar plantations have generated thousands of jobs for
destitute migrant workers and subsistence farmers as well as hundreds of jobs for
skilled factory workers. Still, there is reason to believe that international
trade pacts fostering exports of products like sugar that seek to help the
world’s poorest countries can have the unintended effect of encouraging land
grabs by wealthy, politically connected families. Cambodian corporations
obtained tens of thousands of acres from the government as economic development
concessions for large sugar plantations, while paying modest compensation to
families pushed off the land.
The New York Times paints an interesting picture of the facts
on the ground and explains the genesis of the conflicts.
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