In the end the failure of the farm-based economy may
be reflected in the displacement of individuals or entire
households from a village. This, in a sense, is the ultimate
form of distress diversification. In Ban Nong Hai
Kham, 14 households never made the move in 2000 to
the site of the new village because of the lack of productive
land there; in Ban Phon Hai, 10 households left
in 1989 due to livelihood threats. There are also current
villagers who may be forced to leave. Mr. Thongsay of
Ban Huay Leuang in Pak Ou district had access to
only a single 1 ha upland field and this was insufficient
to sustain him, his wife and four young children
(2–13-years-old). They made ends meet by wage labouring––digging rice fields, carrying sacks of rice,
clearing land, and collecting non-timber forest products
(e.g. paper mulberry). But he was all too aware that this
type of work would only keep his family bumping along
the bottom and realised that they might soon have to
move on to survive.