A Nutty Idea

Tin Oo used to grow bougainvillea o­n the balcony of his flat in central Rangoon. Now the few square meters of space have been taken over by an unattractive shrub bearing nuts that are potentially lethal.

He’s not alone. A mysterious government decree orders city dwellers and country people alike to devote their horticultural skills to growing physic nuts. “Everyone I know is thoroughly sick of this plant,” says Tin Oo.

Two reasons have been advanced for the strange official order to grow the shrub—the most reasonable explanation is that physic nuts produce an oil that can be added to diesel fuel, reducing the country’s dependence o­n petroleum. But a more arcane theory maintains that the instruction to grow physic nuts emanates from the superstitious mind of the country’s top leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

For now, the government is telling the people that the cultivation of physic nuts is a useful contribution to the economy. Named botanically as jatropha curcas, the nuts are popularly known as physic because they yield an oil with medical properties. Taken in excess, however, the oil is highly toxic.

Scientists discovered a far more useful role for the nut oil—as an additive to, and even a potential replacement for, diesel fuel. Burma’s annual imports of diesel and crude oil are a huge drain o­n the country’s foreign reserves, and the prospect of cutting this outlay sent government and oil industry officials to work o­n how to boost the production of physic nuts.

The chief research officer for the state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, Myint Oo, told an Asean energy ministers’ meeting in the Lao capital, Vientiane, in July that Burma planned to replace 40,000 barrels of its total daily import of 50,000 barrels with physic nut oil within three years. The government in neighboring Thailand has set its own target of replacing 10 percent of its diesel imports over the next five years with domestic ethanol production. Investors in Thailand are reported to be interested in establishing biofuel production facilities in Burma and in Thai-Burmese border areas.

Throughout Burma, high-ranking government officials regularly preside at the inauguration of physic nut plantations and fuel conversion plants. It’s o­ne area where government critics fall in line with government policy, agreeing with the junta that biofuels such as physic nut oil can lower dependence o­n crude oil and bring environmental benefits. It’s generally agreed that biofuels such as physic nut oil can eliminate the emission of greenhouse gases and sulphurous contaminants, while physic nut plantations help control soil erosion.

The junta’s ambitious plan to devote 7 million acres of land to physic nut cultivation, however, is being pushed forward at a big cost to countless small farmers, whose land is being taken over by the military and large state-run operatives. Villagers throughout the country—from southern Karen and Mon States to western Arakan State, northern Kachin and eastern Shan States—are reportedly being forced to plant the shrub and even guard plantations, under the threat of having to compensate for any damage.

City dwellers aren’t spared, either. “Even the people who live in downtown apartments have to follow the state’s policy, as a ‘national duty,’ buying the seeds or plants with their own money and growing them wherever they have space, even o­n their balconies,” said o­ne Rangoon-based business journalist.

The pressure to plant physic nuts has resulted in a run o­n the seeds and a steep price rise, particularly in city markets. A comprehensive marketing plan is lacking, and the junta’s “experts” are also facing tough questions about the efficiency of their biofuel production process.

Some critics suggest the mammoth scheme has less to do with sound economic policy than with the ramblings of Than Shwe’s superstitious mind and his hatred for detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A story circulating in Rangoon draws attention to the Burmese name for the physic nut—kyet suu, which in astrological terms means Monday-Tuesday. Suu Kyi’s name can mean Tuesday-Monday and—so the story goes—Than Shwe believes that the act of planting kyet suu can neutralize Suu Kyi’s powers and prevent her seeds of dissent from taking root.

Exiled Burmese economist Sein Htay believes this is the most likely explanation for the push to plant physic nuts—“It’s the old man’s crazy trust in astrological advice,” he says.