In a message to mark Burma’s Peasants Day on March 2, President Thein Sein said his government is striving to improve the living standards of farmers and boost agricultural development. While calling on the government to increase agricultural loans, he also noted the private sector’s role in increasing the production of high-yield and highly marketable crops. Burmese farmers currently have no claim to the land they cultivate, and there have been numerous cases of agricultural workers, who make up roughly two-thirds of the country’s population, being forcibly evicted to make way for investors.