Abstract
Traditional agrosilvopastoral systems have been an important component of the farming systems and livelihoods of thousands of ethnic minority people in the uplands of Mainland Southeast Asia. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and participatory inquiries in nine ethnic minority communities, this study emphasizes the complex articulation of local farmers’ knowledge which has been so far excluded from governmental development and conservation policies in the northern uplands of Thailand and Laos. Qualitative analysis of local knowledge systems is performed using the Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit (AKT5) software. Results show that ethnic minorities in the two countries perceive large ruminants to be a highly positive component of local forest agro-ecosystems due to their contribution to nutrient cycling, forest fire control, water retention, and leaf-litter dispersal. The knowledge and perceptions of agrosilvopastoral farmers are then contrasted with the remarkably different forestry policy frameworks of the two countries. We find that the knowledge and diversity of practices exercised by ethnic minority groups contrasts with the current simplified and negative image that government officials tend to construct of agrosilvopastoral systems. We conclude that local knowledge of forest-livestock systems can offer alternative or complementary explanations on ecological cause-and-effect relationships which may need further scientific investigation and validation.
Highlights
Traditional agroforestry systems in Southeast Asia—and agrosilvopastoral systems in particular—are transforming rapidly under pressure from the transition of farming systems towards increasingly larger scales, from enhanced forest conservation efforts, from large-scale land investments, and the constrained availability of arable land
We conclude that the knowledge gathered and diversity of practices exercised by ethnic minority groups contrasts with the simplified, normative and mostly negative image that government officials and mainstream society tend to construct of traditional agrosilvopastoral systems
Our results suggest that local knowledge can offer alternative and/or complementary explanations on ecological cause-and-effect relationships which may need further scientific analysis, using experiences and methods from diverse perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds
Summary
Traditional agroforestry systems in Southeast Asia—and agrosilvopastoral systems in particular—are transforming rapidly under pressure from the transition of farming systems towards increasingly larger scales, from enhanced forest conservation efforts, from large-scale land investments, and the constrained availability of arable land. Forest-dependent people have cultivated upland rice in combination with other subsistence crops, such as pumpkin, cassava or taro [1], and practiced extensive cattle rearing in the surrounding forest areas for a variety of reasons, including provision of draught power, transportation, and capital saving [3,4,5] Both the Thai and Lao governments have maintained a negative view on upland farmers who have traditionally lived in the forest, regarding them as destroyers of the forest, an attitude that is evident in other Southeast Asian countries with ethnic minorities [6,7,8,9]. While the Thai government has discouraged cattle farming in forested upland areas due to its perceived negative ecological impact, the Lao government has promoted the production of livestock, including cattle, among upland minority groups as a strategy of poverty alleviation [10]
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