Though subsistence-oriented slash-and-burn rice production is still the major land use in the hilly areas of Northern Laos, it is now increasingly problematic, especially in areas adjacent to main roads. Due principally to increased population pressure, the period of fallow has declined and labor requirements for weeding have dramatically increased. In addition, the Lao government considers shifting cultivation to be a major cause of deforestation and has recently initiated a series of policies to restrict it. The main policy now being implemented is the 'land allocation program' which aims to stabilize shifting cultivation and to promote permanent agriculture by allocating a limited area of agricultural land to each household.On the other hand, market-oriented agricultural activities of shifting cultivators, such as cash crop cultivation, collection of forest products, animal husbandry and teak plantation forestry, are now becoming increasingly important since the Lao government adopted a policy to revitalize the market from 1986. As a result, a cash income has become very important in rural and urban areas. Among these activities, cash crop cultivation is now widely adopted in some areas of Northern Laos, influencing local land use and livelihood. This is due in part to the policy of the Lao government; the government is now promoting intensive agriculture with cash crops as an alternative to slash-and-burn rice production.The present study aims to reveal the influence of the introduction of cash crop cultivation on land use in the hilly areas of Laos, with a focus on Number 10 Village, which is located 25km to the south of Luang Prabang, the largest town in Northern Laos. The main ethnic group is the Khmu. In this village, the upland fields planted with both upland rice and cash crops (Job's tears and paper mulberry) were mapped by means of GPS to describe today's land use. Interviews were also conducted with every household to investigate the household economy and land use history of each field.The conclusions are as follows.In Number 10 Village, the land allocation program was conducted in 1996 and afterwards intensive cultivation of cash crops was promoted by the local government and international organizations as an alternative to slash-and-burn rice production. Due in part to this policy, many households have started cultivating Job's tears and paper mulberry, but it has never been an alternative to slash-and-burn rice production. Job's tears is a cereal crop which is exported to Thailand and Taiwan, and is then processed into beer, sweets and health foods. Although cultivation is usually highly profitable, households cannot rely permanently on it due to large price fluctuations. Paper mulberry is a tree crop, the inner bark of which is exported mainly to Thailand and is processed into paper. It has a rather stable price and is easy to cultivate, but is rarely cultivated intensively because of its low profitability.On the other hand, upland rice cultivation is still the most important land use practice in the village, engaging 88% of households at the scale of 1.13 ha per household. Most households continue production without observing the rules established by the land allocation program. Today, they practice it under the rotation of shorter fallow and an increased cultivation period, which has caused a very significant increase in the labor requirements for weed control. If the rotation is intensified by limiting agricultural land, it cannot be continued. Therefore, many households still continue on land where cultivation is prohibited according to the rules established by the program.Most households combine subsistence-oriented rice production and market-oriented cash crop cultivation. This combination has important merit for them in that they can mitigate the risks associated with cash crop failure or a fall in the market price due to this subsistence production.
2 0 0 0 OA ラオス北部焼畑山村にみられる生計活動の世帯差
- 著者
- 中辻 享
- 出版者
- The Association of Japanese Geographers
- 雑誌
- 地理学評論 (ISSN:13479555)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.78, no.11, pp.688-709, 2005-10-01 (Released:2008-12-25)
- 参考文献数
- 29
- 被引用文献数
- 3 3
ラオス北部の山岳地域では現在も焼畑による自給向けの陸稲栽培が盛んに営まれているが,その一方で焼畑民による現金収入を目的とした仕事も活発化している.その結果,世帯間で異なる生計活動がみられる.本稿はこの生計活動の世帯差とそれが生ずる要因を,集落移転政策によって成立した一行政村,10番村を事例として,各世帯の稲作規模やコメ収支,現金収入の分析を通じ考察した.その結果,10番村では市場経済の浸透後,経済格差を生む新たな要因が生じ,貧富の差とそれに伴う生計活動の世帯差が明瞭にみられること,10番村における貧富の差は民族間の経済格差の問題を含んでおり,焼畑民の貧困問題をこの問題抜きに論じられないこと,幹線道路沿いの領域では土地に対する人口圧が高まり,焼畑の継続が困難になり始めているのに対し,山間僻地領域では人口圧が低く,焼畑が今なお継続しやすくなっていることを明らかにした.