At the village level the clearest example of distress
diversification was Ban Nong Hai Kham in Tulakhom
district. The inhabitants of this village were resettled in
2000 from their original village site around 30 km away
following the construction of the Dansavanh Resort and
Casino. Most households are food insecure with fewer
than 10% growing sufficient rice to meet their needs.
While the number of food secure households will likely grow as the surrounding land is developed for agriculture
much of this land is highly marginal. Not only does
the village face a chronic food shortage but this should
be seen against a context pre-resettlement where the
community was food secure and enjoyed a degree of
self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Between 1981, when the
‘old’ village of Ban Phu Khao Nan Tai was established
and 2000, when they moved to the current site, the village
was self-reliant in food and, in fact, produced a
modest surplus for sale. Today the villagers live in food
insecurity and rely on wage labouring to meet their most
basic needs.