You would think that in a country as overwhelmingly agrarian as Burma, the plight of the rural poor would receive far more attention than it does. Agriculture accounts for more than 40 percent of Burma's GDP and supports around 70 percent of its population. And yet, since President Thein Sein vowed in his inaugural address to Parliament in March to do something about the persistent poverty of those who toil in the fields, precious little has been said about this issue by those in high places.

Indeed, amid all the talk in recent months about possible political and economic reforms, hardly anyone seems to have noticed just how regressive the new Parliament's proposals for changes to the country's land laws—which lie at the heart of the hardships facing Burma's farmers—have been.

Thankfully, last week the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released a statement that reveals much about the mindset that still prevails in Naypyidaw. Far from moving forward, Burma appears to be heading in the direction of the bad old days of centralized government control over land rights with a draft law modeled, according to the AHRC, “on 1960s quasi-socialist legislation.”

Burma's agricultural sector has long been plagued by edicts issued from on high by the country's rulers,  but in recent years, another, equally deleterious, factor has added to the pressures on already hard-pressed farmers: land-grabbing by private-sector companies run by or with close ties to retired or actively serving generals.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy in August, Pho Phyu, a lawyer who has represented many farmers forced off their land—either through outright confiscation or by more devious means that take advantage of their perpetual indebtedness—described the struggle of farmers deprived of their right to a livelihood. In some cases, he said, farmers have even been charged with stealing while harvesting their own crops.

“This kind of situation can only be altered if the agricultural policy of the state is changed and the government enacts new laws,” said Pho Phyu, rightly highlighting the need for fundamental reforms aimed at protecting the rights of those who struggle to feed themselves, even as they feed the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, the new law that he called for has not materialized; in its place is a piece of legislation that will only enshrine social injustice and ensure that the vast majority of Burma's people will remain cut off from any progress the country may make if it ever fully integrates into the global economy.

As the AHRC says in its statement, “Rather than protecting cultivators' rights, [the new law] undercuts them at practically every point, through a variety of provisions aimed at enabling rather than inhibiting land-grabbing.”

Clearly, this is not the product of a reform-minded legislative body. It is, rather, what you would expect of an entrenched oligarchy acting solely in its own interests. This is not what the people of Burma want, and not what its farmers need.