Country case study: Lao PDR

16 An area-based livelihood-systems approach to rural development in the Lao PDR, Phuoang Parisak Pravongviengkham, Lao PDR

16 An area-based livelihood-systems approach to rural development in the Lao PDR, Phuoang Parisak Pravongviengkham, Lao PDR

Rural development in the Lao PDR has long been recognized as the spearhead to eradication of mass poverty and sustainable improvement of the socio-economic well being of rural people. It is one of eight national priority development programs of the government. With 83 percent of the population in rural areas and two-thirds relying on subsistence agriculture and non-forest products, agriculture and forestry remains the pivot of rural livelihood. Other sectors provide ancillary support as needed to ensure an enabling environment for agriculture and forestry. New approaches and mechanisms are bringing about more coordinated and harmonised rural development activities among major central line agencies and between central agencies and local governments (province/district and village levels), to respond fully to the needs and expectations of local communities. Government now believes that agricultural and forestry development demands a more holistic approach. Improved rural livelihood is not the responsibility of a single agency. The need for an area-based livelihood systems approach to development is implied: in other words, a "Focal Site Strategy". Moreover, the diversity of rural livelihood systems implies that development efforts must be decentralized to provinces, districts and villages. It has become government policy that local governments at district level are to be coordinating focal points for combined interventions among concerned central agencies. Greater community participation further implies the need for stronger partnerships between government services and local communities, building upon what is already there. This suggests a move to greater flexibility in implementation of policies, rules and regulations and the need to make adjustments to other inflexible national programs. To align itself to this more holistic approach to development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has initiated policy and structural adjustments including the process to devolve greater responsibility for development to district offices and village. MAF believes that a shift to a more holistic rural development would provide a solid platform to ensure coordinated efforts fitting the specified needs of each rural focal site. The complexity and diversity of the rural livelihood systems and local traditions in resource management are considered in the process of shaping rural development policies/strategies and programs.

General background of the Lao PDR and its rural sector

General profile of the country and main socio-economic indicators

The Lao People's Democratic Republic is a small country with a total land area of about 236 800 km² and a population of about five million people (mid-1997 estimate), giving an overall population density of 20/km². It is predominantly rural, with 83 percent of the population living in rural areas and two-thirds relying on subsistence agriculture. There are about 620 000 families dependent on farming, of which 492 000 families are at subsistence levels. The country is one of the world's poorest with a population growth rate of 2.8 percent; average family size is 6.5 persons. Nearly half the population is illiterate and about two-thirds live in poverty. Poverty is, by internationally established indicators, widespread and is greatest in rural areas: central region (33.6 percent), northern region (26.5 percent) and the southern region (16.2 percent). In absolute terms, two million are poor (World Bank 1998).

Much of the country is mountainous, which restricts access, communications and development of modern irrigation systems. The country is divided administratively into 17 provinces and one special zone, further comprising 138 districts, 11 640 villages and 748 529 households. Many villages are inaccessible during the rainy season. Non-existent or poor access roads in rural areas constrain operation of motor vehicles and non-motorized transport. Less than half the population has access to safe drinking water, which often forces people to get water from sources away from their villages. Three percent of the land is cropped (700 000 ha) and another 3 percent is grassland or permanent pasture (710 000 ha); on average each family has about two hectares, 1.1 ha of cropland and 1.1 ha of pasture. Only 53 000 ha of land is irrigated during the dry season. Estimated potential agricultural land varies from 15 percent to 32 percent of total land area (3.6 to 7.6 million ha). Maximum potential agricultural land area is estimated on average at 5.7 to 12.2 ha per family (World Bank 1998). The country is subject to drought; lowland areas suffer flooding from the Mekong and other rivers. Climate affects agricultural production and food security;. it relies on its natural resources in agriculture and forest land and thus on the effectiveness of the farming and forestry systems used to manage them; Climate affects agricultural production and food security;.

Agricultural production in upland areas is still dominated by subsistence crop cultivation under a shifting cultivation or swidden (slash-and-burn) farming system. Shifting cultivators in upland areas can only produce rice sufficient for seven to nine months of their annual consumption and are classified as extremely poor. Upland rural poverty is directly linked to land degradation resulting from the management of the agricultural systems practised. The challenge of stabilizing shifting cultivation and conservation of the environment in upland areas cannot be met unless the issues of poverty reduction, provision of alternative sources of livelihood, food security and security of land tenure are addressed simultaneously. Most farm incomes in the uplands are derived from sale of livestock, small amounts of other cash crops and forest products, non-farm and off-farm activities to finance the purchase of additional rice and other livelihood needs.

Overall development policy and rural development strategy

Overall development policy with special attention to role of agriculture and forestry sectors

The development of the Lao PDR and its agriculture and forestry sector has moved through several phases since 1975. The Government of the Lao PDR (GOL) was first faced with rehabilitating the physical infrastructure and social fabric. After some experimentation in policy initiatives and development, in 1986 the government embarked on a new policy called the "New Economic Mechanism". State-owned enterprises have been progressively privatized, the market economy has been encouraged and many other approaches made towards integrating the Lao PDR with the global economy. The Lao PDR joined ASEAN in mid-1997. These and other policies have been largely successful and the country has developed steadily, at least until the recent disruptions in Southeast Asian economies.

The socio-economic development strategy occurs within eight National Priority Programmes, outlined in the Socio-Economic Development Plan until year 2000. These national programs concern food security, increased commercialization-oriented production, stabilization of shifting cultivation, infrastructure development, improved socio-economic management and foreign economic relations, rural development, human resources development and services development. The major contributions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) to the National Socio-Economic Development Plan is reflected in six major programmes: food production, support to commodity production, stabilization of shifting cultivation, irrigation development, agriculture and forestry research and human resources development.

Agriculture cum forestry is recognized to remain the leading national economic sector and engine to foster socio-economic development up to the year 2020, gradually laying down the foundation for a shift to the industrial sector (that is, the move into processing for the agriculture sector). In the vision, the Lao agriculture and forestry sector is to play an important role as a contributor to food security within the ASEAN Region as well as to the maintenance of a sound environmental base in the region.

The rural development strategy: the concept of an area-based development approach

Rural development has long been recognized as the key to eradication of mass poverty and sustainable improvement of the socio-economic well being of rural people and is one among the eight national priority development programs of the GOL. Agriculture and forestry is considered the pivot of rural development, with other concerned sectors to provide the necessary ancillary support interventions (roads, social services, etc.) so as to ensure the required enabling environment to foster agricultural and forestry production. However, past development efforts were not well coordinated and therefore previous interventions in the rural areas did not achieved the expected results.

Government has further recognized that agricultural and forestry development, within the rural environment context, demands different policies, strategies and practices for the lowlands and the uplands. This recognition is reflected in a number of political directives, laws (e.g. land/forest and water resources laws) and decrees that support an area-based approach to rural development to fully optimize the exploitation of its natural potentials. It also takes into consideration the complexities of the physical endowments of the country and local socio-cultural realities, that aim to ensure that a more balanced development effort is achieved between the urban and the rural areas.

Based on the above, the overall strategy in the development of agriculture and forestry sector is to follow a "lowland approach to development" in the seven main plains of the country (in the central and southern parts). This is to be linked to an "upland approach to development" in the upland areas where special emphasis is to be put on the conservation of forest resources in the uplands in the latter type of development approach (MAF 1998b).

With increased physical accessibility, improved infrastructure, better access to improved technologies and newly emerging marketing opportunities, the development of lower lands is attracting the increased involvement of the private sector. It follows a different pace of development, geared towards a stronger emphasis on the commercialization of the agricultural and the forestry sector. Stronger promotion to develop export potential and diversification in farm and non-farm sectors is now taking place in the lowland, where there is concentration on intensifying production methods to improve food security and commodity production. Among other inputs, this entails large, medium and small (including community-managed) irrigation schemes, and the need to form water user groups responsible for operation and maintenance. Production of non-rice crops for export, such as coffee, is a part of the commodity production goal.

About 85 percent of the country are uplands, where the poorest and the most marginalized segment of the population is found. In the uplands, government policies for improved social and economic systems are largely based on efforts to stabilize shifting cultivation. Implementation of these policies is constrained by many factors, including: the remoteness of most upland areas, lack of roads, the diversity in livelihood systems and socio-cultural systems, a predominant barter economy and difficulties in supplying and distributing credit. In addition, there is continued danger from unexploded ordnance remaining from past military action. Due to the complexity and diversity of upland livelihood systems and the high incidence of deprived communities, present rural development strategy and programme lartgely focuses on their needs. To ensure that the poorest and the most deprived segments of the rural poor are reached, the government established a National Leading Committee for Rural Development in 1994 (reorganized in 1996 and again in 1998). Its main role is to ensure concerted interventions to designated sites called "focal areas or focal sites". Because agriculture and forestry is considered the spearhead of the whole economy and especially of the rural economy, MAF and the State Planning Committee (SPC) are considered co-leading agencies in the planning and execution of rural development programmes.

Harmonized rural development in Lao PDR: the focal site strategy

The main thrust of rural development: stabilization of shifting cultivation in upland areas

With increasing population density, the present shifting cultivation system condemns upland rural people to continued poverty. This has become a more compelling reason for developing a diversified and settled form of agriculture than any adverse aspect of natural resource degradation. The Upland Rural Development Program (RDP) is also called the Shifting Cultivation Program (SCP), its main component. Directly run by MAF since 1976, it aims to gradually reduce swiddening, reducing poverty and conserving natural resources in the process. Although shifting cultivation has been considered a sustainable farming method in upland environments, increasing population pressure and decreasing fallow periods, means that shifting cultivation is no longer sustainable in a number of upland areas.

For a long time, developing the lower land niches to provide irrigated agricultural lands was the main tool used to overcome the practice of shifting cultivation. This approach was considered feasible in the upland rural areas of the central and the southern parts of the country due to a relatively higher proportion of flatter lands. In the northern region of the country, this approach has not proven to be viable since the topography is such that lowland areas are insufficient to meet the needs of the upland rural population. More recently, the policy has been gradually changed to in situ stabilization of agriculture with associated gradual reduction of shifting cultivation practices, combined with the opening of lower niches as one feasible alternative among others. In this new policy, the government strongly supports an integrated and decentralized approach to resource use and management, where the shifting cultivators are considered the central actors in resource management and development.

Decrees 40 and 131 (1994 and 1996 respectively) of the Prime Minister of the Lao PDR, delegate the responsibility for planning and implementation of rural development to provincial and district authorities with required advisory and technical assistance to be provided by concerned central agencies. The Decrees also strongly recommend increased participation of villagers in the development process. The government supports for decentralization of resource use and management to local authorities and communities is contained in Decrees 169 and 186 (1993 and 1994 respectively). In addition, Decree 102 (1993) identifies the Organization and Management of the Villages, a formal document underpinning the rights, duties and responsibilities of village communities to use and manage natural resources in their habitat; while a draft decree prepared by MAF attempts to clarify the exercise of customary rights as they apply to the use of forest resources.

The essence of the focal site strategy

The Lao Government has devised a "Focal Site" approach to rural development. By focal sites, we understand an area-based livelihood systems approach to integrated rural development. Such an area-based approach is geared towards promoting locally owned "centers for change and learning". The essence of focal sites is to increase food and commodity production, to create employment opportunities, and conditions for improved living standards. The accompanying conditions, the enabling environment for this to take place are reliant on the way the district and local institutions are empowered, human resources developed, and capacity building undertaken for public management and participatory community development.

Thus, development is being concentrated in 'focal sites' within each province, so that limited human and financial resources are not spread so thinly that they lose effectiveness. This is to bring concerted inter-ministerial development efforts and better harmonization of resource allocations to be targeted in regions of different socio-economic status called "focal sites" (meaning that interventions will be tailored to specific area needs). The main thrust is to ensure integration of macro- and mezzo-plans so that activities of different sectors can converge at district level, responding to the diversified needs and varied recommendation domains of local people. Moreover, the focal site strategy places much emphasis on devolution of power to the district level of administration and local empowerment at village level so that development activities and the management of natural resources are taken up directly by these local institutions. The said strategy considers the practice of shifting cultivation from a more friendly perspective, meaning that it recognizes improvements of livelihood systems within existing settlements is the more sustainable and more socially acceptable alternative to the development of the uplands.

Institutional change: a holistic and decentralized swidden-based livelihood system

From the point of view of the agriculture and forestry sector, the need for a focal site strategy (see Figure 1) or an area-based livelihood systems approach to development calls for improvement. Such a simplified development policy framework and structure based on holism (complexity), spatial variation (diversity) and recognition that work must be with individual farm families, communities and through existing local institutions.

• Holism implies a recognition that all agencies coordinate development programmes, since it is not a job for one agency only. Thus the need to shift to an area-based livelihood systems approach to development planning and programming of allocation of resources (staff, financial, aid, credit).

• Spatial variation implies decentralization to provinces and districts. Districts can determine "what is possible where" and are to be the coordinating points for combined efforts among concerned agencies. Projects need to fit such a framework (not separate 'super-structures') (see Figure 2)

• Greater community participation implies partnerships between government services and communities, building upon what is already there (e.g. indigenous technical knowledge and local regulatory systems). This suggests flexibility in implementing rules and regulations and the need to make adjustments to other inflexible national programmes.

As a result of the above, the following structural adjustments are ongoing in the whole of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, as a move to a more integrated approach to development:

Supportive policy framework for development strategies and programmes

Establishment of a supportive police framework conducive to coherent and efficient materialization of the required development strategies and programmes include:

Creation of lead coordinating bodies for harmonizing planning, development aid and extension works within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

A number of lead coordinating offices for harmonizing planning, development aid and extension activities have been established in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. One major role is to develop the conceptual framework for an 'area-based livelihood systems approach' to upland development, and the responsibility to forge closer links among the concerned technical departments (that is "breaking walls" among departments). It also encourages closer cooperation between the central departments and the provincial/district agricultural and forestry offices. This would bring about the possibility to integrate strategic plans and programs at central and provincial levels and, consequently, facilitate the convergence of sub-sectorial activities at micro-level tailored to specific recommendation domains. This approach to development planning would greatly help to make concerned government-supported programs and projects (including international assistance) a more effective and viable instrument for rural development and ensure more coherence in the provision of aid/assistance to the target areas, groups and individuals.

At present, all concerned technical departments are obliged to act together and provide more responsive integrated upland development programs that reflect better the diversity of present livelihood systems. However, the relationship between these diverse disciplines need not be seen as competition, where one can exclude the other, nor as one of domination, where one sets the development agenda and the other acts as a minor partner helping to do the actual work. Ideally, the situation should be one of symbiosis where each department contributes knowledge and skills to the collective development effort.

Streamlining aid coordination in parallel with upgrading of local capacity

Most aid donor projects in MAF are developed in relative isolation from one another and like to superimpose 'effective' organizational structures and administrative procedures on the prevailing Lao system. Figure 2 shows that past and present development efforts and activities were and are directed through parallel structures (e.g. project offices at provincial level) create beside existing district offices and services which often take resources from existing systems (e.g. the limited technical expertise). These so-called "superstructures" do not see as a development priority the strengthening of people's ability to take the necessary initiatives to manage their own resources within existing local government agencies at district level and within the village community.

Relatively scarce human and financial resources in the public sector suggest that effort should be made to strengthen existing local organizational units responsible for development works. There is a need to improve local capacity to plan and implement development programmes at district level. As far as possible, all development activities are to be directed through district offices, using and improving existing services. The technical departments and the concerned provincial offices should play more of an advisory and facilitator role which would include technical servicing, coordination of the provision of financial support and credit schemes, training, technical innovations, market information and developing the necessary marketing channels and systems. The key objective is to ensure that these services are effective, reliable and compatible with local people's aspirations.

There is, therefore, a need for existing and future rural development, especially donor-funded projects to coordinate their plans and activities. They should also report to the concerned line agencies so that the relatively scarce financial resources (both local and foreign-funded) can be managed/allocated in a way to respond effectively to the needs of specific 'recommendation domains' zones/areas. It would be the duty of the 'new' planning and aid coordination body in MAF, in collaboration with the technical departments and concerned aid agencies, to ensure that this happens through a clear strategic plan for the sector.

Implement research and development activities through existing grass-roots institutions

Appropriate mechanisms and modalities have been devised so that research and development activities are to be executed through existing grass-roots institutions, taking into account local traditions in resource use and management. The ability of development agencies to deal with the communities and with farmers as groups has never been built up because of the individual household orientation of most transfer of technology approaches. Given the fact that the common property or even open access resources, managed through collectivities, play a pivotal role in the survival strategies of the poor people, development agencies have to learn to deal with problems of collective decision-making (Figure 3).

Execution of research and development activities should be entrusted to the grass-roots village organizations (rather than to individual farmers) consisting of the village authority, the party and the mass organizations (representing different interest groups) with the necessary guidance and support provided by the district office. The emphasis here is on strengthening the managerial capacity of the village organization, group and individuals to look after and make use efficiently of resources provided to them. These include an up grading of efficiency in organization and management, skill enhancement, development of entrepreneurship and promotion of capital formation through group savings to undertake new ventures that the traditional subsistence economy did not allow. This approach to implementing development activities at the grass-roots level would fit better into the existing collective management of resources and community solidarity that characterizes most Lao villages. It is believed that cooperative behavior can be ensured in circumstances where the state, community and individuals gain at the same time. The key objective here is to avoid interventions that promote one-sided and overly individualistic self-interest that could undermine the effectiveness of the local regulatory system.

Develop sustainable upland land-use and management practices by grafting exogenous technologies onto viable indigenous technical knowledge

There is a need to move towards a more flexible approach to developing land use and management practices by combining indigenous technical knowledge in sustainable land management with appropriate land management technologies. Implementation of existing very strict land use regulations has proved impossible in many places because of the lack of gently sloping land. Thus, while criteria for agricultural land use are needed, such criteria should be utilized flexibly according to the local context. Given the large variations in local production conditions, field rotations longer than four years should be permitted especially where short fallow periods are unable to secure a reasonable level of productivity and stability.

Moreover, apart from continuing to develop technology for paddy, livestock and fisheries, home-gardening, maize gardening, forest production, high priority should also be given to developing appropriate technology and land management practices in upland areas, including technologies and management interventions to improve the present practice of shifting cultivation, in order to generate viable alternatives to the current practices. It is unreasonable for Government to exert controls on shifting cultivation until such alternatives are available.

Revisions to land allocation programme implementation strategy and procedures

Land resource management policy and planning in the Lao PDR should take into consideration the fact that the land managers are the hundreds of communities who work the land. To be effective, policy and planning should involve community participation in the planning process and incentives to comply with outcome during implementation.

Emerging weaknesses and deficiencies in the land allocation programme undertaken in the late 1990s have provided clear indication of the poor level of knowledge of concerned planners in relation to the country's land resources, local traditions in managing collectively common resources, existing customary property rights regimes and tenurial systems, and variations in land suitability for different forms of use.

There is a need to make urgent revisions to the present land allocation regulation, develop policies and legal tools and to provide the required institutional support at district and village level to strongly support the co-existence of mixed property rights regimes in the same community (state, corporate/collective and private ownership patterns). Moreover, the tradition of resource sharing among neighboring villages should be considered as a viable land resource management strategy and such customary practice should be protected by providing the necessary legal recognition and incentives.

In addition, taking into consideration the existing tradition of collective management of common resources and strong community solidarity, efforts should be made to concentrate on demarcating village boundaries instead of reallocating fallow lands among individual farmers. This has created many intra-village conflicts and has not won the required support from the community. Once village boundaries have been delimited, the community and local organizations should be responsible for allocating fallow land to respective groupings and individual farmers according to the customary practice found in each respective village. It is important that the exercise of demarcating village boundaries be carried out by the concerned village authorities and representatives of the community to reduce the chance of border conflicts. The district authority should play more the role of a facilitator and mediator so as to secure the best possible deal between concerned villages.

f. Develop an appropriate methodological approach and tool for classification of 'type areas'

As mentioned earlier, an 'area-based livelihood systems approach' should be used to guide future research and development activities. This approach would involve the identification and classification of 'type areas' in the upland zones based on spatial variation. This will serve as a basis for more detailed analysis of farming systems and livelihood systems, as well as for planning, programming and developing the required research and development interventions. This should respond to each recommendation domain and for efficient harmonization in the allocation of financial and material resources (including foreign aid).

A model for classifying 'type' areas (at district and village level) has been developed by MAF in terms of resource use, socio-economic conditions and the local regulatory system. A schema of broad development recommendations by "type-areas", to which research and development interventions need to respond, can be based on the profiles of diversification and development opportunities described in Table 1.

The methodological tool for analysis, both of the existing situation and of the sustainability of the technical and managerial adjustments being made in the upland systems by local communities and external assistance, consists of a simple table of inquiry that focuses on understanding the behavior and important properties of concerned farming and livelihood systems in a particular district and village on the basis of the knowledge of only a few key functional relationships. Accordingly, the concept of the agro-ecosystem analysis (AEA) and the farming system research approach is employed, with modification in the sense that resources assessment is set in a much wider framework. It includes social and economic factors such as market access, alternative employment opportunities and local implementation of national policy measures. In this view, the emphasis is more on whole livelihood systems, rather on just the farm or on the family as a farm management unit.

Appropriate training (including on-site training) on farming system research and RRA/PRA methods is urgently needed at provincial and district level. This needs to include training on the interpretation of the data and information collected. This could be carried out by the respective technical departments but their actions should be monitored and harmonized (by the MAF coordinating bodies) in a way that they follow the philosophy of the proposed strategy (that is the development of a typology of districts and villages for identifying 'recommendation domain' areas).

Regular monitoring and evaluation of the work done is crucial to successful implementation of this new strategic approach to development planning. Documenting is necessary to assess whether the strategy and corresponding plans are proceeding as envisaged and whether the new ideas or modification of the original ideas are justified. It is believed that district and village organizations and programme implementers (MAF technical departments and PAFO) will be mutually responsive to each other's aspirations and interests as confidence grows and successes are achieved. Change in course, whether at the policy level or at the implementation level, is inevitable in the course of maturation and careful monitoring and evaluation will ensure sound judgement.

2. Develop technical interventions within the established framework

With the above mentioned policy framework provided, then we can talk of technical inputs. Specific technical interventions or delivery of technology need to take into consideration the existing tradition of community solidarity in the management of resources and would need therefore to develop mechanisms and arrangements to aim for a combination of group- and individual-oriented approach of technology transfer. The group-oriented approach is especially important for resources of corporate ownership and for actions where group efforts are more rewarding (e.g. marketing groups, credit groups, handicraft production groups, labour exchange groups, cattle and goat herd management groups and etc.).

Village communities and concerned interest groups/individuals should be advised on alternatives and given the freedom to choose the technical assistance to best fit their needs and aspirations. This could be a specific technical option or a technical package, that is a combination of several such options. For example, in Phoukout district (Table 1) the most pressing technical need of its swidden communities are increased forage supply from communal grazing land, especially in the dry season, with establishment of individual back-yard forage and group-based animal health service units instead of relying only on one village veterinary worker. Cross-farm visits should be encouraged so that farmer groups could learn from each other's experience in upland farming, especially to draw lessons from a management system or technology that has proved to be viable and try to apply it into their own location. Immediate transfer of technology takes place through the process of farmers' interactions.

3. Implement ancillary interventions to relieve pressure on the uplands

The holism in the area-based approach to improvement of swidden-based systems implies also the need to run concurrently supportive ancillary activities to relieve pressure on the uplands. These are:

a. Continued supportive programs in ancillary development activities, education and medical care

b. Promote non-farm activities in the uplands

Table 1: Profiles of diversification and development opportunities for improving swidden-based livelihood system by spatial variation

	Representative district type-areas
Socio-economic status	Luang Prabang	Viengkham	Viengthong	Phoukout
	- Mountainous	- Mountainous	- Mountainous	- Pine-based grasslands combined with mountainous areas
	- High population density	- Low population density	- Low population density	- Low population density
	- Strict local rules for land use	- Relatively flexible local rules	- Relatively strict local rules	- Flexible local rules
	- Good access and market opportunities	- Very difficult access and mostly of a barter economy	- Difficult access and predominance of a barter economy	- Difficult access but a cross-road to market centers
	- A lot of support services, poorly managed	- Lacking support services	- Lacking support services	- Lacking support services
1. POOR	1. Improve practice of Hai & Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na	1. Improve practice of Hai	1. Improve practice of Hai & Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na	1. Improve practice of Hai, where possible, open more Na
	2. Increase HG for sale (in the more accessible areas)	2. Increase cattle production (especially in weight)	2. Increase cattle production (in weight)	2. Increase cattle production (in weight)
	3. Increase non-farm activities (in the more accessible areas)	3. Increase MG for intensifying pig &poultry production	3. Increase MG for intensifying pig &poultry production	3. Increase MG for intensifying pig &poultry production
	4. Increase MG for intensifying pig &poultry production	4. Increase fish culture	4. Increase fish culture	4. Increase fish culture
	5. Stall-feeding cattle or increase goats to replace cattle	5. Increase goat production	5. Increase non-farm activities	5. Increase non-farm activities
	6. Increase fish culture
	7. Increase off-farm employment
2. AVERAGE	1. Improve practice of Hai-Na and Na-Hai, where possible, open more Na	Same as above	1. Improve practice of Hai-Na & Na-Hai, where possible, open more Na	1. Improve practice of Hai & Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na
	Same for 2 to 7		Same for 2-5	Same for 2-5
3. BETTER-OFF	1. Improve practice of Na-Hai and Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na.	Same as above	1. Improve practice of Na-Hai & Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na	1. Improve practice of Hai & Hai-Na, where possible, open more Na
	Same for 2 to 7		Same for 2-5	Same for 2-5
Required support interventions	Improve land tenurial system, to recognize the local regulatory system	Strengthenthe community- regulated resource use system	Strengthen community- regulated resource use system	Strengthen community regulated resource use system
	Implement ancillary activities to relieve pressure on the uplands

Source:	Field study, 1997
Note:	The table shows the whole range of possibilities, in terms of their cash resource generation capacity
	HG: Home gardens and MG: Maize gardens
	The data takes four representative northern districts, ecology-wise, as a basis of comparison of diverse development opportunities by spatial variations. These are Luang Prabang and Viengkham districts in Luang Prabang Province, Viengthong in Houaphanh and Phoukout in Xiengkhouang

In summary, the policy recommendations suggested above, wide acceptance of an 'area-based livelihood systems approach' to development of the uplands, based upon holism (complexity), spatial variation (diversity) and decentralization (recognizing the roles of local institutions in the process of development) can play a pivotal role in ensuring long-term stability of swidden-based livelihood and contribute to prepare for the change towards a more individualistic and semi-commercial economy.

References

Lao PDR, 1997. Annual Report, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Vientiane.

Lao PDR, 1998a. Annual Report, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Vientiane.

Lao PDR, 1998b. Vision of MAF until Year 2020, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Vientiane.

World Bank. 1998. Aide Memoire: Preliminary Analysis and Key Findings, in Preparatory mission for the rural sector development strategy study. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Vientiane.