The changing occupational structure of a Laos mountain village

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a case study of a mountain village in northern Laos. The focus of the paper is on the change in its occupational structure after the introduction of nonagricultural activities.In 1986, after 11 years of communist-based policies, the government adopted the Lao version of Perestroika or 'Chintanakan mai'. These policies appear to be having an impact even in remote, mountainous villages, as evidenced by an increase in non-agricultural activities in rural areas.The village taken up in this study is Phonsavang, a mountain village in northern Laos that has moved its location twice in the last 25 years. With each change of location, the village has diversified its economic activities. To begin with, the village was located in the mountains and traditional activities such as swidden agriculture played a central role in its economy. However, in the mid-1970s, the village moved to Nam Beng riverside where the villagers tried to develop paddy fields and began the shipment of forest products under the influence of neig hboring villages. After the introduction of the 'Chintanakan mai' policy, in 1988, the village moved to its current location, based along the No.2 national road. Since this move, many households have introduced non-agricultural activities such as general shop management, sawmill labor and teak plantations. Despite these changes, the village is still self-sufficient in rice production.A multivariate analysis using 'Quantification Theory Type II', a type of discriminant analysis, was carried out to describe the characteristics of households in the village. The criterion variable is the introduction of non-agricultural activities, and the predictor variables are types of rice field holdings, teak plantations and various types of agricultural capital goods. As a result of this analysis, households that introduced non-agricultural activities can be characterized as not holding any rice fields, or cultivating only paddy if they hold rice fields, and having expensive agricultural capital goods such as a thresher and a tractor. Ordinary households, on the other hand, can be characterized as specializing in rice farming using swidden methods.After characterizing the different household structures, the study examined the economic activities of households that introduced non-agricultural activities in detail. These households have accumulated a variety of capital goods- for example, cars, threshers and tractors. Most successful households that have many capital goods achieve success through the brokerage of forest products. However, not all households have been able to accumulate capital goods by themselves. Instead, they have relied on remittances from relatives who now live in a foreign country.This study suggests, therefore, that a diversification of the occupational structure has occurred with each village relocation. This diversification intensified after the introduction of 'Chintanakan mai' and an increase in non-agricultural activities was observed. In fact, a quarter of the households in this village had introduced non-agricultural activities by 1999. Nevertheless, the village is still producing a rice surplus as well as continuing to develop new paddy. Thus, it would seem that despite a diversification in occupational structure and the introduction of non-agricultural activities, rice farming remains a very important economic activity in rural villages.