In Laos there are growing pressures on traditional
farm-based livelihood systems. Growing land scarcities
and government initiatives are encouraging farmers to
embrace modern, yield-enhancing technologies. Market
integration and the intensifying need for cash have
encouraged and permitted farmers to sell their surplus to
commercial intermediaries. Population growth, land
scarcity, forest degradation and the government’s land
allocation programme are undermining formerly sustainable
agricultural systems, particularly systems of
shifting cultivation in the highlands. And ‘economies of
scope’ (see van der Ploeg et al., 2000) based on diverse
agro-ecosystems incorporating a range of village-based
non-agricultural activities (like weaving) and the collection
of non-timber forest products, are being replaced
by pluriactive households where diversity is achieved
beyond farming, through embracing various modern
non-farm activities.