Sustainable agriculture in the uplands of Vietnam and Thailand - attitudes, constraints and priorities of ethnic minorities
Dr. Andreas Neef
Institute of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim (490 A), 70593 Stuttgart, Germany. Tel: 49 711 4592548. Fax: 49 711 4592582. Email: neef@uni-hohenheim.de..
Abstract of paper presented at the conference Environmental Change and Vulnerability: Lessons from Vietnam and the Indochina Region, Hanoi, Vietnam, April 4-5th 1998.
In this paper current trends in upland agriculture of Northern Thailand and Northern Vietnam are discussed with special emphasis on ethnic minorities. For the last 30 years government policies towards ethnic minorities have been led by top-down approaches following the concept that minorities are a threat to both natural resources and national security and have to be encouraged to settle in 'fixed' villages and to adopt permanent agricultural practices or to be moved out from fragile highland areas. Especially in Thailand, highland agriculture is in conflict with government interests as many ethnic minority villages are located in areas which have been declared as forest reserves, watershed areas and wildlife sanctuaries.
However, several examples of successful management of community forests in Northern Thailand show that people and forests can coexist. Various case studies and research findings indicate that traditional and newly evolving agricultural practices of minority farmers in the uplands can not be simply classified as 'sustainable' and 'unsustainable' as some government officers and researchers still tend to put it.
Upland farmers in both countries face considerable difficulties in getting access to formal credit, extension services and markets which is an important constraint for the integration of perennial crops and livestock to make the existing farming systems more sustainable. Ethnic minorities in the uplands of Vietnam and especially in Thailand are last in line to obtain long-term land use rights and hence tend to use perennial crops and erosion control measures as a strategy to secure land rights, even if the technical performance or the economic profitability of these measures is doubtful.
Priorities given by ethnic minority farmers in selected villages indicate that they are highly interested in diversification of cropping systems, integration of fruit trees and livestock to raise incomes and ensure food security but have to be assisted by government policies and appropriate institutional arrangements.