Agricultural production in Lao PDR is dominated by the cultivation of rice, a staple food in the Lao diet. Nowhere in Asia is upland rice more important than in this heavily forested, land locked country where this ecosystem makes up about 31 per cent of the total rice area, accounting for between 20and 22 percent of production. The prevailing mode of cultivation is slash-and-burn, which is practiced by some 300,000 farmers, such as the family of Ou-Phuang Duangprajit and Sao Hen.

It is a way of life based on tree felling and bush burning to clear land for cultivation. After 1 or 2 years, families move their cultivation to another area and start the process again. It takes years for the vegetation to return. If at this moment you are flying the route from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, look out the window and you may see the consequences of the destructive practice.

Down on the ground in Luang Prabang Province, Ou-Phuang, a long time upland rice farmer, recently got a chance to visit Houay Khot Station. He had passed this 19 hectare experimental station numerous times and had often wondered what went on there.

In addition to being the province’s primary agricultural research station, it is the base for upland studies of the Lao-IRRI Research and Training Project. IRRI is the acronym of the International Rice Research Institute, based in the Philippines. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation funds this important project.

Mr. Boonmali, the Ziengnguen District agricultural officer, had identified the Ou-Phuang family and 24 other families in the region as progressive upland farmers who might be interested in providing their expertise and some of their land for on-farm research. He invited the farmers to see technologies that were being tried out on the experimental farm as alternatives to slashing and burning the countryside to make way for rice and other crops.

Says Ou-Phuang, "My wife Sao Hen and I are very interested in cooperating with the researchers because we want to adopt management practices that will enable our family to grow rice on the same land year after year and provide some stability to our lives."

According to Mr. Bouathong Phounsalit, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Rural Development Committee, some 250,000-300,000 hectares of land-of which 100,000 are rain forest are cleared by slash-and-burn every year. In an attempt to drastically reduce this onslaught on the country’s invaluable resources, the government has begun a land reallocation programme in which upland families are provided with up to four pieces of land, from 1 to 1.5 hectares each (contingent on family size).

Mr. Viengsavanh Manivong, national program coordinator of the Lao IRRI Project, says "Families are encouraged to stay on this land and to no longer slash-and-burn into new areas. We also urge farmers to grow rice on only one parcel of land at any one time and to rotate non-rice crops such as maize and mung bean on the others or leave them fallow altogether," he says.

For this scheme to work, management practices unfamiliar to the farmers will have to be adopted. And that’s where one component of the Lao-IRRI Project will be playing a major role. Says Dr. Keith Fahrney, who joined the Project as IRRI's upland agronomist in 1996, "On that day when Ou-Phuang and the other farmers visited Houay Khot Station, they were receptive as they evaluated the strip cropping, hedgerow, and contour strip practices we are testing. They considered our ideas for vegetative erosion control and they offered ideas of their own."

Dr. Fahrney and his Lao agronomist counterparts at Houay Khot Station, Boonthanh Keoboualapha and Soulasith Maniphone, were delighted that 17 of the farm families volunteered to get involved in the on-farm research for the coming season. "We spent several days checking each of the fields for their suitability in conducting replicated experiments," says Mr. Boonthanh. Such fields must be first or second year ricefields that are not extremely steep, about 1 hectare in area, and a short distance from the road for others to see.

Unfortunately, only the farmland of Ou-Phuang and Sao Hen met the experimental requirements. However, rejection of the other farmers’ fields for the experiments did not douse their enthusiasm. "Once they understood exactly the type of land we required, they were able to help us locate suitable fields belonging to others who were also interested in on-farm research, "says Mr. Soulasith. "We invited this second group to the station and as a result we were able to set up three separate experiments with interested farmers."

In 1962, when he was five years old, Ou-Phuang came to Xiengnguen District with his mother and father. They are Khamu ethnic people of the Lao Theung (farmers of the midland mountain slopes) who were refugees from the Indochina War - against the French - in the eastern part of the country. The thickly forested area was a popular haven for war refugees of various ethnic groups throughout the 1960 and early 1970s -and is a major reason why the land is being stretched to the limit today.

Ou-Phuang and Sao Hen currently have three one-hectare upland field in which to grow food for their family of four children, ranging in age from 1 to 16, and both sets of grandparents. "We are familiar with only one of the fields, which we have used off and on for the last 18 years, " Ou-Phuang says. They were allocated two additional nearby field just two years ago by district agricultural officials to replace eight smaller pieces scattered across the hills, which they gave up in the government’s land reallocation project. "With less area, combined with the recommended crop rotation scheme, it will be a challenge to grow enough rice for our family," he says.

In addition to growing rice, the family grows some bananas, vegetables, and maize to supplement their diet. "Last year we planted some teak," says Sao Hen proudly. Like many farmers, the couple sees the valuable forest tree as an insurance policy, which will be cashed in for their children some 20 years in the future.

Ou-Phuang and Sao Hen were very anxious to get the on-farm research started this year so that they can begin improving the soil of their worn-out land. In the experiment, the Lao IRRl agronomists are trying to make the fallow more efficient by using a legume in the dry season so that the land is not taken out of production.

The lay of the family’s land is ideal for establishing 32 plots, each measuring 8 x 10 meters. They planted their traditional variety using the normal practice of dropping seed into holes made by dibble sticks. After the last weeding, Sao Hen will sow seed of a legume known as style (Stylosanthes guianensis)under the standing rice crop on half of the plots. The agronomists will test four residue management treatments on both the farmer-practice and legume-improved fallow plots: burning, mulching, removing, and grazing.

Regular chores keep the family busy throughout the May-November growing season. "Weeds are a continuous problem, "says Sao Hen. The fields must be hand-weeded at least four times by her, the older children, and other relatives. Making and maintaining bamboo fences to keep wandering buffaloes, goats, and other animals out of the fields is another major task.

"As much as I would like to stay and assist with the work, I must go off and try to find additional money for my family," Ou-Phuang says. He is home now only to help with; the rice planting and to confer with his wife and Lao-IRRI agronomists about implementing the experiments. "Tomorrow, I must leave to find dried fish, cloth, monosodium glutamate - anything I can purchase cheaply for resale in distant villages, " he says. Such is the circumstance of many farmers in the Lao uplands.

Dr. Fahrney concludes: "Farmers such as Ou-Phuang and Sao Hen and others collaborating with the Project this year know they must shift to a more sedentary agricultural system. They are very willing to do that - but they just don’t know how. We research are still looking for answers ourselves. Farmers and researchers working together for a common solution seems to be the best way to go about finding sustainable methods for upland rice production.

Lao family recognizes the importance of new system.

Thit Phet and his father Xieng Somdi, brother Xieng Boun, and young nephew, Somvang, rest among their growing rice seedings on one of the family’s one hectare fields in Xiengnguen District and contemplate the days remaining chores.

Phet, 27, who is still single after spending seven years as a monk in a local wat (Buddhist temple) has returned to manage the farming operation. "The recommendation of district agricultural authorities is that we should grow rice only on one piece of land each growing season. In doing so, I hope we will be able to harvest enough rice to get us through the year, "he says. "Before, by opening new areas, we were usually able to grow enough rice. We do recognize the importance of the new systetm, which will keep us on the same land every year. We will work hard to be successful."

Phet wants to work with the Lao IRRI Project researchers to establish practices that will improve soil fertility and reduce weed pressure. He will begin by experimenting with two non-rice crops interspersed among the one hectare rice area.

"I have decided to plant an improved variety of cotton (Khamkao) as my cash crop and pigeon pea this year will rotate to rice next year and this year’s cotton and pigeon pea plots will be rice next year. One plot will have continuous rice. Over time, the researchers will be able to make some comparisons. Along the various contours that have been marked with the assistance of the researchers, the family will plant Leucaena and drought-resistant grasses such as Brachiaria brizantha and Vetiveria zizanoides. And they will add fruit trees, such as mango, sweet tamarind, orange, and lychee, up and down slope along each side of the middle contours. They will also plant teak trees an investment for the future - along the uppermost contour.

The family plants three glutinous rice varieties, which are preferred by the Khamu people. The major difference is their duration. Says Phet, "Vieng will be harvested in late October, Mak Hin in early November, and De Kay in late November. This enables us to spread out our labor requirements and it is also a hedge against drought affecting our entire harvest."

Fighting nematodes with crop rotation.

Lao Theung farmer Sahai ua, 40, finished planting his rice crop 5 days before and is now busy laying out contours across his field and sowing seed of the shrubby legume Leucaena along them as part of his on-farm research collaboration with the Lao-IRRI Project. Lao IRRI agronomists, Mr. Boonthanh Keoboualapha and Dr. Keith Fahrney, observe the progress. Other farmers identified Boua as a potentially good research cooperator, having land that was the right size and slope for experimental designs, along with the family’s desire to continue cultivating the same fields. Recently, IRRI scientists identified the weed Ageratum conyzoides as a harborer of a root knot nematode (M. graminicola) in Indonesia, Thailand, and Lao PDR which may be the reason Boua has been noticing yellowing in his rice. His family’s 1.5 hectares have an over-abundance of A. conyzoides. "This is the main reason we want to do a rotation experiment on this farm," says Dr. Fahrney. Evidence exists that rotations of different plants, such as maize and pea nut, can help cut down the nematode populations. Because of the rotation experiment designed for his farm, Mr. Boua will, for the first time be planting non-rice crops on portions of his land. Previously, these areas were destined for either continuous rice cropping or short term weedy fallows where conyzoides provided a home for the nematodes until rice was planted again.

Boua has decided to plant an improved variety of maize (Hat Dok Keo 4) as his cash crop and peanut as his soil improvement crop. "Perhaps my rice yields will increase as a result," says Boua hopefully. "At the same time, peanuts will help make my soil more fertile, which will enable my family to stay on this land for years to come.

Rice mill is the centerpiece of a Lao Sung village

Before rounding the bend to Pa Ko village high in the hills of Xiengnguen District, one can hear the hum of an engine - an unusual sound in this very remote region of Luang Prabang Province in north central Lao PDR. The engine powers a rice mill that was a gift from a Quaker Non-government organization working in the country. The NGO had identified Pa Ko as a large village that could use the machine because it is relatively close to a main road and most importantly has many children to feed (more than 200 at last count).

Vang Chu Tho, 52, is the village’s head mechanic whose primary task is to, keep the all important rice mill operating. He also heads one of three groups of 10 families for the rice, and the region surrounding it is home to the Hmong ethnic people of the Lao Sung (farmers of the mountain summits).

In addition to milling all of the village’s rice, Pa Ko villagers can derive some cash income by milling rice for surrounding communities. "I get some additional income as well for operating the mill and maintaining the engine, Tho says proudly.

Tho and his wife, Chuong Chiang, have three boys and five girls, ranging in age from 25 to 2 (the oldest two girls are already married and live in a nearby village). Many families in the village have similarly large families. Like many in the region, the couple came as refugees from war-torn Xieng Khouang Province to the southeast in 1971 to seek a better life. They have lived in Pa Ko since 1975.

It is an arduous task to grow enough rice to keep the village mill spewing forth its product of mostly nonglutinous (nonsticky) rice. Although the Hmong do nor prefer glutinous rice like their Khamu neighbors of the midland slopes, they do, like the Khamu, plant at the same time as three traditional rice varieties, which differ in days to maturity early, medium, and late. This practice has the same result at the mountain summits as it does on the midlands slopes it staggers the harvest, which spreads out the labor requirement and hedges against drought. "Staggering our harvest reduces pest damage as well and gets new rice to our village mill early in the season," adds Chuong. Most of the village’s ricefields are planted by early June with the first harvest expected in October.

Also like their midland Lao Theung neighbors, Lao Sung farmers have, until just recently, grown rice 1 or 2 years on a piece of ground and then moved farming operations to a new area where - after slashing and burning - they would start the process again. They have not stayed on the same land very long because productivity declines rapidly. But now, in an effort to stop the slashing and burning into new areas of the summits as well, each family has four pieces of land on which they will attempt to maintain their farming operations. Each piece comes to around 1 hectare for families that have between one and five members and around 1.5 hectares for families with six or more members.

Now, for the first time, following recommendations from Xiengrguen District agricultural officials, each family will grow rice on only one piece of ground; on the others, maize, cassava, legumes, or other crops will be grown-for the next 2 or 3 years before a rotation occurs. Says Mr. Tho, "I understand the reasons for doing this - I want to cooperate to help curtail the indiscriminate slashing and burning into new areas. I know it will help stop the flooding and the erosion, which have become serious problems. But under this new system, I may not be able to grow enough rice on only 1.5 hectares each year for my family. Maize and cassava harvested from the other 1.5 ha plots will help supplement our diets, but I still fear it will not be enough." Throughout the region weeds are the major constraint. "Too many weeds and not enough labour to pull them our," laments Chuong. "Weeding, weeding, weeding - from time of planting to harvesting; ending every day!"