Transitioning towards commercial upland agriculture: A comparative study in Northern Lao PDR

Publication date: Available online 28 November 2018Source: NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life SciencesAuthor(s): Catherine M. Hepp, Thilde Bech Bruun, Andreas de NeergaardAbstractUpland agricultural systems are rapidly transitioning from traditional shifting cultivation to more commercialized agriculture, i.e. annual cash crop cultivation – a trend widely observed in the uplands of Northern Lao P.D.R. and with consequences to household livelihood strategies at the village-level. The main objective of this study was to compare village and household socioeconomic standings of two upland agricultural systems varying in degree of commercialization in Northern Lao P.D.R.: i) Navene, a village with a relatively recent introduction (2010) of the cash crop, fodder maize, where it is cultivated extensively with no added external inputs or mechanization and ii) Ko Ngiaw, where cultivation was introduced in 2004 and fodder maize is now successively cultivated on ploughed upland fields with herbicide application. Participatory mapping, household surveys (during planting and harvesting), farmer activity books and ranking exercises were conducted to collect data on village and household resources, crop production (upland rice, paddy rice and maize), labour productivity (maize) and general perspectives on commercial agriculture. We show both infrastructure development and accessibility (market access, support and services) are important underlying drivers of the commercialization of agricu...

Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - November 28, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research