3Committee for Co-operation with Laos (CCL), Technical assistant to PDDP, Lao PDR; *Author for .... farmers, according to their history, means and.
Springer 2006
Agroforestry Systems (2006) 66:65–76 DOI 10.1007/s10457-005-6645-1
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Introducing cash crops in shifting cultivation regions – the experience with cardamom in Laos Olivier Ducourtieux1,*, Phoui Visonnavong2 and Julien Rossard3 1
Paris-Grignon National Institute of Agronomics (INA P-G), France; 2Lao Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, National Director of rural Development Project of Phongsaly District (PDDP), Lao PDR; 3 Committee for Co-operation with Laos (CCL), Technical assistant to PDDP, Lao PDR; *Author for correspondence: Address: La Ferrie`re Haute, 24600 Ribe´rac, France (e-mail: olivier.ducourtieux@ laposte.net; phone: +33-5-5390-5174) Received 27 April 2004; accepted in revised from 26 April 2005
Key words: Amomum villosum, Domestication, Marketing, Non-timber forest product (NTFP), Slash-andburn agriculture, Understorey
Abstract Farmers are often blamed for destroying the tropical forest, especially in Laos. Converting shifting cultivation into cash crop based agriculture is frequently presented as the solution for merging forest protection and poverty alleviation, but many attempts have ended in failure. A rural development project has attempted to introduce medicinal cardamom (Amomum villosum) cultivation in the notably remote region of Phongsaly (northern Laos), for export to China. With nearly 300 ha planted, the crop now involves about 75% of the farmers in the region. Farmers fitted cardamom into their farming system, to suit their needs for sustainability with a crop compatible with existing practices. Results indicate that introducing a cash crop into a shifting cultivation region is possible if a greater attention is paid to: (i) appraise how the new crop fits into the farming systems; (ii) prioritise economic issues over agronomic matters, in particular identify markets, traders or commercial risks.
Introduction: Are cash crops an alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture? Shifting cultivation was often, and still is presented as outdated and destructive by development institutions (Brady 1996; Thrupp et al. 1997; O’Brien 2002) and the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (MAF 1999). Shifting cultivation plays a major role in the Lao economy, as 80% of the country is hilly or mountainous. Agriculture provides jobs to over 250,000 families (MAF 1999) – i.e. a third of the country’s population – which are among the poorest in the country and essentially belonging to ethnic
minorities from the isolated uplands in the North, East and Southeast of the country. In the uplands of Lao PDR, farmers clear away forest, creating a link between the two successive phases of shifting cultivation: • A short crop period (of 1–3 years), using the fertility built up in the forest biomass; • A fallow period, varying in length (of 1 up to 20 years), during which fertility builds up through regeneration of the forest. Slash-and-burn agriculture is often effective for the farmer economy in terms of security and pro-
66 ductivity (Dufumier 1996; Fujisaka et al. 1996; Ducourtieux 2005). Implemented for centuries, they have had a limited impact on the forest environment. They are nonetheless not sustainable if demographic growth leads to accelerating crop rotations (Brady 1996; Thrupp et al. 1997). When the fallow period goes below 3–4 years, soil fertility is not renewed, and erosion and weed competition increase dramatically (Ramakrishnan 1992; Van Keer 2003). In these regions, the government of Lao PDR aims to alleviate poverty and protect natural resources. To reach these two potentially contradictory objectives, two ways are generally proposed in rural development programmes: restraining agriculture in mountain regions to permanent, limited areas, and promoting incomegenerating activities. This policy is based on the assumption that it is possible for farmers to sell commercial products and that cash income allows them to buy rice instead of growing it. Cash crops as an alternative to swidden cultivation are systematically included into development projects instigated by the Lao government (MAF 1999; CPC 2004) and international organisations (ADB 2003). Among the various recent attempts, many have failed and success has rarely been sustainable. There are two issues in the conjecture: (i) Is it possible to introduce cash crops with success in shifting cultivation area? (ii) If yes, is it possible for cash crops to replace slash-andburn agriculture? This article does not claim to provide a final response, but seeks to contribute towards the debate by reviewing a local experience addressing the first issue. We did not look for replacing shifting cultivation, but for appraising the conditions to fulfil to make shifting cultivators adopting a new cash crop fitting into their farming systems. We will study how a rural development project has taken into account the local conditions in the region of Phongsaly (cf. Figure 1) to introduce a new cash crop, medicinal cardamom (Amomum villosum), a non-timber forest product growing wild but can also be planted in the understorey in mountain rain forest. The project team focused on the farming techniques for this plant, poorly known outside of China where it is used for traditional pharmacopoeia. That issue is often the developers’ only concern. Nevertheless, dealing with it is far from enough to succeed. The project devoted most
of its efforts to economic aspects (work productivity and risk limitation) and commercial ones: market accessibility, reduction of commercial risks, etc. The example of cardamom will allow us to identify the conditions necessary to successfully introduce a cash crop in upland areas like Phongsaly.
Material and methods: How to introduce cardamom farming in Phongsaly? Background: an economy based on shifting cultivation in a hilly region The Phongsaly district lies in the northernmost province of Lao PDR (cf. Figure 1), landlocked between China and Vietnam. The hilly region is essentially covered with mountain rain forest. Human activities, mainly shifting cultivation, have historically transformed the climax vegetation. The existing formations are very diversified, ranging from primary forests to fire-maintained Imperata cylindrica savannah (Alexandre and Eberhardt 1998; Laffort and Jouanneau 1998; Baudran 2000). The population mainly belongs to the SinoTibetan ethnolinguistic family, a minority ethnic group in Lao PDR. The 20,000 farmers of the district live in 82 rural villages, of which 80% do not have access to a road open to vehicles. It takes at least 3 days to reach some villages on foot. The population lives from swidden cultivation. Other agricultural production remains limited due to the lack of irrigable land in the V-shaped valleys, difficult access to markets for cash products, and the high incidence of animal diseases.
From studies to implementation: selecting and introducing a cash crop that will fit into existing farming systems The rural Project for Development in the District of Phongsaly (PDDP) involves the Lao Government and the French Development Agency (AFD). The project firstly aims to increase the income of all the district’s inhabitants. That economic development is a prerequisite to the second aim: limiting shifting cultivation in the long term. Before implementing any activities, the PDDP began with an in-depth study phase of the agrarian
67
Figure 1. Map of Lao PDR and study location.
systems in the Phongsaly District (Alexandre and Eberhardt 1998; Laffort and Jouanneau 1998; Baudran 2000). We endeavoured to understand how coherent the local farming systems are and to determine which proposals according to the farmers needs should be considered for action and implementation. We paid attention to the current farming systems, to the differences within the region (zoning) and within village communities (class typology). We interviewed old farmers as
key witnesses to understand and model how those farming systems have been historically built up and differentiated from each other. Thus, we were able to typify the rationality of each class of farmers, according to their history, means and socio-economic context. Cardamom emerged in the studies as an important component of the family’s economy. At the time, it was the second plant product exported in value by Phongsaly province, after opium.
68 Medicinal cardamom1 (Amomum villosum var. xanthoides) is a non-ligneous perennial plant of the Zingiberaceae. It is used in the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia for preparing medication against stomachache. As such, it reaches a potential market of over 1.3 billions consumers, in addition to the Chinese diaspora around the world. Although only gathered in the forest in Laos,2 cardamom has been grown for centuries around Guangdon in China. It was introduced in the 1960s in the Prefecture of Xhishuangbanna (Yunnan Province), bordering Phongsaly province, where it has become a major product enhancing local economic development: 8000 ha, 80% of the Chinese production of cardamom in 1998 (Zaifu 1991). The pharmaceutical industry demands amounts up to 2,000,000 kg year 1, but Chinese production covers only one half of their needs. The remaining portion is being met by gathered wild cardamom of lower value3 imported from Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.4 Gathering wild cardamom in Phongsaly was hindered by two factors that tended to limit the price offered to farmers: • Social conditions of gathering (free access) tended to start the harvest prematurely, to the detriment of ripeness and hence product quality (Aubertin 2003); • Wild cardamom is not as concentrated in essential oils as the cardamom grown in China, which is preferred by the industry. That limits it to only being a complementary product, the price of which depends on how much of it is harvested in China. Based on the project’s aims – increasing farmer income while preserving the forest environment– and conclusions of the feasibility study, the PDDP planned to focus on introducing cardamom
1 Medicinal cardamom should not be confused with aromatic cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), used as a condiment in India and the Middle East, as well as in cosmetics. 2 With the notable exception of the Bolovens Plateau in the south, where it has been cultivated for decades and, on a smaller scale, of the Boun Neua district in Phongsaly province. 3 In September 2004, farmers sold the cultivated cardamom at 3.1 US$ kg 1 (dried), compared to 1.4 US$ kg 1 for the wild one. 4 From PDDP marketing surveys (Saint-Pierre Claude, pers. comm., 1998 and 2003).
farming in the Phongsaly District. Firstly, the project team had to validate the option. The first unknown factor deals with the conditions of market access. In January 1998, a mission went to Xhishuangbanna to meet with commercial operators and appraise the market prospects for sugar cane, tea and cardamom. Only cardamom appeared to offer sustainable economic guarantees for the Phongsaly farmers. It seemed to insure a stable demand as the local supply is restrained by limited Chinese resources of tropical forests. Hence, it promises a lucrative price level, despite the high costs of access to this market4 for Phongsaly farmers. During that mission, the team also sought to identify private trading companies interested in marketing cardamom from Phongsaly. As the market survey proved conclusive, the PDDP went on to the second phase: to determine whether it was technically possible to grow cardamom in the Phongsaly soil and climate conditions. The project contacted the Xhishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) in Menglun. It is most likely the only institution having ever undertaken research on medicinal cardamom. In March 1999, a XTBG team surveyed soils and forests in Phongsaly. They concluded that it would be possible to grow cardamom in the hills of the Phongsaly District, under some conditions.5 Farmers should not plant cardamom in bamboo forest, where the soil is too acid and where the superficial root systems will compete. Farmers must also avoid fallow land less than 5 years old, which is generally covered with fast-growing ligneous heliophyte species Macarana denticulata, Trema orientalis, Mallotus paniculatus. They generally die and fall down after a 5-year period and could negatively affect any understorey cardamom. The long-lived species Antidesma acidum, Astonica scholaris, Albizia chinensis replace the heliophyte ones after about 5 years, and do provide suitable for covering cardamom plantations. Even after appraising the natural and market conditions, in order to limit the risks for farmers, the project staff did not start promoting the crop immediately. First, an experiment was launched by 25 volunteer families in five villages, as diversified as possible in the district in terms of natural and 5
From the XTBG survey for PDDP (Zhou Shou-qin et al. pers. comm., 1999).
69 socio-economic conditions (ethnicity, access to market). The point was to use a limited sample to test the aptitude of cardamom to resume growth after transporting and transplanting seedlings in the Phongsaly conditions. The crop system used by the farmers to grow cardamom in Xhishuangbanna was selected6 based on the proximity and similarity of the zones. With 6400 stalks supplied by the project in July 1998, the families were growing 7000 in late 1998 and 9600 in March 1999. Hence, there was proof that it was possible to introduce medicinal cardamom plants from China to a distant farm in Phongsaly. The preliminary market study, commercial canvassing, agronomic research and farmer experimentation were all conclusive. The PDDP was ready to promote cardamom farming on a large scale. The project staff considered different modalities to supply farmers with seedlings bought in Xhishuangbanna (0.04 $US each): (a) Project grant; (b) Cash sale, with a very high cost per hectare (400 US$) that was beyond the farmers means;7 (c) Credit sale, which only postpones the cost issue for farmers; (d) Cash sale at a subsidised price; (e) Seedlings provided on credit, with repayment in kind after several years. Options (b) and (c), and to a lesser degree option (d), are not fair: the promoter was not taking a risk in the new programme. Farmers preferred option (a), but the project funder did not. Finally, option (e) was chosen. It allows extending the plantations after a few years by distributing the reimbursed seedlings. Each farm family had the opportunity of borrowing 1000 seedlings at most, i.e. a plantation covering 0.1 ha.
6
The cropping system promoted in Phongsaly and presented in the ‘results’ chapter is similar to the Xhishuangbanna’s one. Growing cardamom for almost 40 years, the Xhishuangbanna farmers extend the surfaces or regenerate the old plantation with seedlings coming from thinned out stolons in younger fields (a farmer-to-farmer market exists for seedlings). The agronomy differs in some other Chinese provinces, such as overstorey management (monospecies plantation of Pinus spp. in Guangxi Zhuang) or intensive irrigated plantation in Guangdong (Saint-Pierre Claude, pers. comm., 2003). 7 A farmer family earns in average 1500 $US per year, but only 200 $US in cash (Ducourtieux 2005).
Although gathering cardamom was a longstanding practice in the region, growing it was a new one not yet mastered by the farmers. The PDDP accompanied the plant delivery with infield training by the project team and study tours to China. Each village selected a representative to become the community’s cardamom adviser; in 2000, they participated in three study trips to Xhishuangbanna aimed at: • Farmer-to-farmer training on growing cardamom techniques; • Meeting cardamom traders to appraise their organisation and their requests in terms of quality; • Showing the Phongsaly farmers to what extent cardamom was essential in the economic start-up of Xhishuangbanna and how it still plays a role now.
Results: farmers grow cardamom in the forests of Phongsaly Shifting cultivation completes collecting activities to maximise the family income Collecting activities (hunting, fishing and gathering) are an essential component of the family economy in the region, contributing 41% of the total household income (615 US$ year 1), whereas crop income counts for 35% (530 US$ year 1), animal raising for 18% (280 US$ year 1) and handicraft for 6% (85 US$ year 1). Gathering in the forest mainly concerns bamboo sprouts, ‘tipti’ creepers (Urticaceae, probably Boehmeria malabarica) and wild cardamom (Amomum spp.). Slash-and-burn agriculture has often been considered as a simple and standard technique (Thapa and Weber 1991; Bandy et al. 1993), even if it is a myth (Thrupp et al. 1997). After interviewing more than 1000 farmers around Phongsaly, we found out that local shifting cultivation is more complex than expected. Every year, farmers plant nearly 3500 ha in the Phongsaly district, corresponding to about 2000 ha cleared. Rice, the staple food, and associated crops are cultivated 2 years in a row; then the fields are left for the forest to regrow. Photosynthesis enables the reconstitution of woody formations during a long-fallow period lasting from 6 to 18 years (Alexandre and Eberhardt
70 1998; Laffort and Jouanneau 1998; Baudran 2000; Ducourtieux 2005). Those substantial periods enable the reconstitution and accumulation of biomass which is a source of fertility for the next slash-and-burn crop cycle (Ramakrishnan 1992). The limited labour available in this lightly populated region is the bottleneck of the local economy. In local farming systems, a family devotes its whole labour to farming and hunting-fishinggathering (Ducourtieux 2005). That workforce cannot clear more than 0.8 ha per worker per year (Laffort and Jouanneau 1998; Keonuchan 2000) and any new activity involves dropping an existent one. With their production means – labour, limited capital and hand tools – and the local socio-economic conditions, farmers seek to maximise labour productivity: they aim to maximise the income per active worker (US$ manday 1), and not the yield (kg ha 1 or US$ ha 1). In parallel, farmers try to limit the technical, climatic and commercial risks to ensure a minimum income for their family (Scott 1976). Growing cardamom in the forest Cardamom grows wild in the Southeast Asian uplands, specifically in the mountain rain forests. It requires a moist and shady environment. The most favourable conditions5 include a mean yearly
temperature ranging from 19 to 22 C, with over 12 C in the coldest months, and yearly rainfall between 1200 and 2400 mm. From one to 2 m in height, a cardamom stem produces new shoots very fast from runners. The root system is shallow: 80% of the roots grow within the first 10 cm of the soil and do not go over 20 cm deep. The plant does well in aerated, humus-rich and slightly acid soil: organic matter >3%, pH from 5.5 to 7.0 with tolerance from 5.0 to 7.5. Sensitive to drought, the April–May blossoming deteriorates if soil moisture is less than 22%. Flowers develop on the stolons, near the root plateau (cf. Figure 2). Pollination is done by the insects Apiscerana indica, A. dorsati and Nomia strigate (Zhou 1993). The fruit ripens in August (cf. Figure 3), the period in which it is picked, dried and marketed. The farming technique aims at imitating the growth of wild cardamom (Zhou 1993): the forest plot is slightly cleared before planting to get from 10 to 60% of light transmitted, with an optimum from 30 to 40%. After tilling the topsoil, the seedlings are planted one plant m 2. Weeding is done the first 2 years, then the plants have grown enough to choke out weeds. When the optimal density of 20 plants m 2 is reached, farmers begin to thin out the spare stems. They can be transplanted on a new plot, enabling the extension of the plantation at a low cost.
Figure 2. Cardamom blooming on the root plateau (northern Laos).
71
Figure 3. Cardamom fruit, drying (northern Laos).
Labour requirements for cardamom production are limited. Thinning and harvesting require less than 50 mandays ha 1 year 1. An additional 2– 5 mandays are required for drying depending on climatic conditions. The first fruit appears three years after planting, but the main harvest begins after the fifth year. It continues increasing until the 10th year, then the plot wears out slowly over a 10-year period (cf. Figure 4). Rational management entails replanting around the 15th year to regenerate the plantation. A one-hectare plot produces from 20 to 750 kg of dried fruit depending on its age (cf. Figure 4), its conditions (shade, moisture, fertility) and the year
(Zhou Shou-qing, pers. comm., 1999). Except for the plantation’s age, the yield depends mainly on the date when rain starts in April–May, which determines the blossoming and pollination (Zhou 1993). The crop can be integrated into the secondary forest formations dominant in Phongsaly without any ecological damage. Planted under forest canopy, it enables the conservation and development of a wooded stratum, a guarantee for the subsistence of forest environmental conditions (ecological diversity, soil structure and fertility, moisture, microclimate, etc.). Thus, cardamom cropping establishes a new agroforestry system in Phongsaly.
kg dry cardamom ha-1
300
200
100
Years after plantation
0 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Figure 4. Model of yield evolution in a cardamom plantation (Northern Laos) (source: Zhou Shou-qing, pers. comm., 1999).
72 Interactions between the canopy and understorey cardamom seem limited. The trees provide shade, moisture and humus required for the crop. In return, cardamom does not seem to have any positive or negative impact on the overstorey, but it strongly competes with any other understorey species. While cardamom requires annual cares, the overstorey is also managed, at a lighter level: farmers cut some trees or prune the canopy to maintain the shade within the optimal range. Phongsaly farmers will get more and more experience in growing cardamom. We may guess that they will manage the affected trees according to their value (such as fruit production, firewood, etc.) or the interaction with cardamom (shade, moisture, fertility, etc.). The cardamom agroforestry in Phongsaly will probably evolve in a more complex system. With the long enough rotation in Phongsaly, farmers will probably try to grow cardamom in the fallow of shifting cultivation, like some other regional agroforestry systems: mulberry trees in Laos (Watanabe et al. 2004) or lacquer trees in Yunnan (Long et al. 2003) , etc. The way to a multi-storey systems associating different productive trees, like rubber agroforest in Kalimantan (Michon et al. 1986) or forest gardens in Java (Wiersum 2004), is longer. There are many different possibilities for the farmers to develop the cardamom cultivation, we cannot come round the question, but readers may refer to complementary publications to go further in the diversity of agroforestry systems (Nair et al. 2004; Schroth et al. 2004).
Large-scale introduction of cardamom cropping The PDDP signed a first contract with a Chinese company for the supply of 1,150,000 cardamom seedlings. Purchased from Xhishuangbanna villagers, the plants were delivered to 1000 families from 27 villages in July 1999. The project delivered the plants to distribution points accessible by truck or pirogue. The villagers then transported the seedlings on their backs or on horseback all the way to the planting area. Monitoring of the newly planted plots showed high mortality of seedlings. In January 2000, only 27% were alive after 5 months from the date of delivery. Since cardamom multiplied rapidly by stolons (1–5 offshoots year 1), it was not irre-
versible, but it delayed the beginning of production by one or two years. We guessed four reasons to explain why the mortality rate was higher in 1999 than for the trial plots in 1998: • The time between collecting the plants in China and replanting them in Phongsaly was too long. Many plants arrived too dry and died before producing offshoots. • Deliveries were overloaded, with plants suffering from transportation conditions. Furthermore, big deliveries of 250,000 seedlings required too much time for redistribution. • The seedlings were too old and leafless, which prevented regrowth. • Planting was done too late (mid-to-end July), which only left 2 months in the rainy season for the regrowth of the seedlings. That also complicated and delayed logistics, with flooding rivers and unfit roads. Based on these observations, the project modified the delivery logistics for the year 2000. Distribution was moved up to June and carried out in many sessions: 13 deliveries of 77,000 plants each in 2000 instead of five deliveries of 230,000 plants in 1999. The project asked for younger and leafy seedlings. Trucks were less loaded. 970 families from 35 villages received 1,000,000 plants in 2000. In those conditions, plant regrowth went more smoothly in 2000 than in 1999. By mid-2001, the plots still had 63% of the plants delivered, i.e. a rate 2.5 times higher in the previous year. The PDDP resumed the procedure in June 2001 to cover the last villages in the district: 830 families from 30 villages received 880,000 seedlings. By late 2001, 4900 families (72% of the families in the Phongsaly district) had volunteered for growing medicinal cardamom in 82 villages, and planted 220 ha. The project invested over 150,000 US$ for the purchase of the plants.
Promising results to be consolidated In August 2001, the first cardamom fruits were harvested on trial plots planted in 1998. With an average yield of 64 kg ha 1 (dried), the results were encouraging but varied substantially from one family and one village to the next: from 0 to 380 kg ha 1.
73 At the end of 2003, the area in cardamom reached 270 ha in the Phongsaly District. Farmers used thinned out shoots to extend their fields. The production, still in the increasing phase (cf. Figure 4), reached 1100 kg dried in 2002 and 6000 kg in 2003, with a value of 1900 US$ and 14,400 US$, respectively. Four to five years from now, the yearly income from the 220 ha planted could reach 150,000 US$. Despite these promising results, the operation has encountered some problems that, although not crippling, require the project team’s attention for maximising the farmers’ profit: • Prices have drastically dropped since 2000, from 5 to 7 US$ kg 1 dried in China in 1995–1998, to less than 2 US$ kg 1 in 2002. That drop is probably attributed to the closing of the main Chinese State pharmaceutical company.4 Prices rose again in 2003 and 2004 (2.4 and 3.1 US$ kg 1, respectively to) due to the progressive reorganisation of the sector in China. They will nevertheless continue to fluctuate, depending on production levels in the Chinese provinces. • The marketing conditions have not established a balance of power favourable to farmers. Higher freight costs explained the lower prices in Phongsaly compared to those in Xhishuangbanna ( 20% in 2004). • Cardamom is marketed in late August-early September, at a time when rice stocks are at their lowest in the villages. Farmers are in a hurry to buy rice and quickly sell their produce to the first coming trader. • Drying the fruits on mats in the sun is problematic in the middle of the rainy season. The product is marketed damp, resulting in a loss of quality, risks of deterioration, and a lower price paid to the farmers. • Harvest of cultivated cardamom is increasing but it is still low compared to the gathered one. Farmers do not consider that it is profitable to loose time in sorting the few kilograms of cultivated cardamom while processing the produce. It is often exported in mixed batches, based on the price of the gathered cardamom. The project is currently working with villagers on three topics aimed at addressing these constraints: • Commercial promotion of Phongsaly cardamom to make the market aware of its quality.
• Grouping farmers to increase their power in trade negotiations. • Introduction of drying ovens to help improving product quality, reducing the work and strengthen the farmers’ trading power by facilitating temporary storage.
Discussion: cash crops may be an alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture, but on drastic conditions An alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture is not required in Phongsaly In times of crisis, i.e. when the demographic growth makes it unsustainable, it becomes urgent to replace slash-and-burn agriculture. However, the population of Phongsaly has decreased since the end of the 1960s. Historical surveys show that 20% of the villages vanished and a third of the families left the region since 1966. Nowadays, the population density has decreased to eight inhabitants km 2, far from the demographic crisis threshold. Between 1995 and 2003, the growth rate was negative in rural villages of Phongsaly: 0.3% year 1, i.e. 2.7% during the period. According to the political will to eradicate slash-and-burn agriculture and the attraction of the city livelihood, the trend of emigration will persist in Phongsaly. As shifting cultivation is definitely not an issue in Phongsaly, why were so many farmers interested in cropping cardamom and voluntarily agreed to the PDDP proposals? Because of the crop’s productivity, it appears to be a credible complement to a farmer’s income. The return to labour for cardamom farming ranges from 2 to 4 US$ day 1, compared to 1.4 US$ day 1 for shifting cultivation (Ducourtieux 2005); a 0.1 to 0.3 ha cardamom plantation requires less than 15 mandays during the rainy season. Cardamom production, therefore, is compatible with shifting cultivation, with a small but manageable competition for available labour.
Cash crops cannot easily replace shifting cultivation Cash crops are not automatically a viable alternative to shifting cultivation. In some cases, mistaken options can lead to counter-productive results. For example, introducing sugar cane
74 instead of shifting cultivation in Phongsaly reduced the farmers’ income, while degrading the soil through mineral exploitation of the fertility. For a yield of 20,000 kg ha 1, a sugar cane field exports over 200 kg ha 1 year 1 of minerals from the soil, compared to 15–20 kg ha 1 year 1 for a slash-and-burn field. At the end of the crop cycle, the slash-and-burn field lost 40 kg of minerals; the secondary forest is rapidly regenerated during the fallow period. For the sugar cane field, the mineral losses reach 600 kg ha 1 and Imperata cylindrica smothers the woody species. The farmers are enduring those errors caused by development programmes. They occurred due to a lack of study and comprehension of the local agricultural conditions. Usually, agronomic matters are carefully studied, but the socio-economic context (e.g. risk levels and prospects, access to market, price conditions, farmers’ priorities and means) is too often neglected. Those oversights lead to unsuitable proposals, logically refused by the farmers. It wastes limited public resources and leads to tensions between villagers and administrative services. Introducing a new cash crop is not obvious; it can only succeed if the farmers accept it and make it their own. Based on the cardamom experience in Phongsaly, three conditions can be identified as requirements for success: 1. Cash crops proposed must be more productive than shifting cultivation, considering the main limiting factor of agriculture in the zone: labour. The new proposal must bring in more per workday to the farmers than the current family income in order for the farmers to accept the activity conversion. 2. Cash crops proposed must offer more security than shifting cultivation. The farmers cannot accept to drop their staple crop (rice) for risky crop proposals, whose results are not constant, with good and bad years. The risks to be minimised include the markets and economic vicissitudes (price variation, evolution of demand, etc.), as well as natural conditions (climate, soil, pests and disease, etc.). 3. Staple foods must be accessible. In some cases, the solution may lie in the village, if the production level is different from one class of farmers to another. Cash income from sold produce can boost exchange within the community. If the
local supply cannot cover the demand for staple food, it has to be bought with new cash income and imported into the village. That requires big investments in communication networks (roads) when promoting alternative cash crops.8 4. Cash crops proposed must be easily transportable. In upland regions like Phongsaly, villages doing swidden cultivation are especially remote. Reaching roads open to vehicles and, from there, to markets requires hours or days of walking on steep paths. Cash crops must be sturdy and nonperishable in order to withstand those transportation conditions. The value per unit (price kg 1 and price m 3) must, therefore, be high to enable economically profitable transportation. If one of these conditions is not met, the failure of the cash crop proposed is predictable. Substituting cash crops based systems for slashand-burn agriculture implies more than agronomic research and extension. The Phongsaly’s experience with cardamom has not reached that objective, but it shows that it requires combined actions in infrastructure, marketing, agronomy and organisation of farmers. In Northern Thailand, cash crops (fruits, flowers, etc.) progressively are replacing shifting cultivation. The experience shows that the political will must endure because the investments are costly and lasting (van Keer 2003).
Conclusion Cash crops are often presented as an alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture, assuming that this practice is in crisis or doomed to fail in the short term. These conditions lead into a poverty upsurge affecting many farmers and the damaging of natural resources (deforestation, watershed degradation, etc.). The assumption linking shifting cultivation to environmental degradations rests on the premise that slash-and-burn agriculture is not sustainable: demographic growth led or will lead 8
Together with the cardamom promotion, the PDDP collaborates with the village communities to fund and build a network of improved tracks suitable for affordable and locally available means of transportation: packhorses, bicycles, motorcycles or two-wheeled tractors. It consists in 140 km of two-metre wide earth roads and cable bridges over rivers.
75 the system to crisis. It is a known fact in many regions in the world, but in some others the demography is declining. There, slash-and-burn agriculture may sustainably last, like in the Phongsaly hills. Introducing cash crops is not a miraculous solution for stabilising shifting cultivation. Their promotion requires prior in-depth thought about the socio-economic conditions and suitable research in the on-farm environment. A single crop cannot be a sustainable solution, in particular in terms of economic risks for the farmers. A crop must be planned in association with breeding activities and other crops within the existing production systems. Well-designed and implemented, the promotion of cash crops can contribute to increasing farmers’ income while preserving the forest. Substantial public investments have to support the agronomic extension, in order to open up the villages and generate smooth commercial exchanges: access to markets for cash crops, secure and low-cost import of staple food. Trends and mirages are common in the development sector and often only lead to costly and dangerous failures for the farmers, the first victims of erring ways. Administrations and projects are much more effective when they take into account the socio-economic agricultural environment and its local historical evolution. By listening and better understanding farmers, it is possible to develop new technical and economical practices that will make it possible to reach the Millennium goals of poverty alleviation and environmental protection.
Acknowledgements We would like to thanks the Committee for Cooperation with Laos (CCL) for having backed up the field work. Many thanks to the reviewers, who patiently and repetitively commented our paper to improve and make it publishable.
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