Dynamic of Local People Organization and Land Occupation Movement in Suratthani Province, South of Thailand

Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. The province comprises 19 districts, 131 subdistricts, 1,061 villages, 272,001 households and 816,016 people. There are farmers for 159,411 households and labor in agriculture sector for 401,378 people.

Regarding above factors, the land occupation movement has been expanded to other provinces in upper south of Thailandin order to inspect land ownership and call for land right. Furthermore, in mid 2003, the movement has also occupied government land that was possessed by businessmen—large palm garden companies with over 200 rais in Suratthani, Krabi and Chumporn where are major areas of palm production of Thailand.