Asian Satellite Campuses Institute

This paper extends Alexandr Chayanov's model of changing household demography (specifically the ratio of food consumers to food producers) and its influence on agricultural behavior so that it includes possible adverse effects of a rising ratio on nutritional status and early childhood mortality within the household. We apply the model to 35 years' worth of longitudinal demographic and economic data collected in the irrigated-rice growing village of Na Savang in northern Laos. When appropriate controls are included for other household variables, unobserved inter-household heterogeneity, and changes in local conditions and national policy over the study period, the analysis suggests that a unit increase in the household's consumer/producer ratio induces something like a nine-fold increase in the risk of death among household members aged less than five years. Monte Carlo simulation studies suggest that this may be an over-estimate but also that the effect is probably real...

Lao smallholders are experiencing livestock grazing land constraints due to resettlement, increasing cattle numbers and commercial cash crop plantations. In this paper we describe changes in cattle grazing systems in an upland village in northern Laos, including the role of forage crops and their effects on cattle productivity. We interviewed 92 Hmong and Khmu households about their migration history, cattle grazing practices, cattle productivity and other livelihood activities. In addition, we measured the heart girths of 231 cattle. We found that the traditional free-range cattle grazing has diverged into three distinct systems incorporating fields fenced to different degrees. Although none of the three systems increased cattle body size, the forage pasture and swidden-farming system successfully increased the grazing capacity compared with other systems. Thus, this method appeared to be the most suitable for Hmong smallholders to manage crop and cattle production in the context of land constraints. Efforts should be made to examine how the newly implemented systems could attenuate villager livelihood and pre-emptively address the problems associated with degrading fallow land.

Livelihood diversification involves the well-characterized strategies of smallholder farmers to combine risk aversion under a market economy. Since livelihood diversification studies have focused on diversifying income sources to include non-farm and off-farm income, the benefit of adding subsistence-oriented farming to the livelihood portfolio has been underestimated. This form of livelihood diversification is broadly observable in Southeast Asia, and could be another risk aversion strategy to cope with unpredictable market conditions. This study examined the role of swidden farming in livelihood diversification through the analysis of individuals labor allocation in livelihood portfolio, annual working hours, and seasonal changes in working hours in a village in northern Laos. Information was obtained through direct interviews with 133 individuals. Interviews were conducted in 2017 and gathered information on demographic features, economic activities, and monthly working hours for individual in 2016. The results indicated: 1) Individual s livelihood portfolio was determined by the assets that the ethnic group and each household held to a large extent; 2) Livelihood diversification took place at the individual level rather than at household level, through an increase in annual working hours, as well as monthly working hours during the peak period of labor demand; and 3) Labor demand for swidden farming was moderate, so villagers can incorporate it into their livelihood portfolio. The study highlighted that flexibility would be another facet of livelihood diversification. Swidden farming was likely to play a pivotal role in its flexibility, but it was not important as an income source.

BACKGROUND Local migration in developing-world settings, particularly among rural populations, is an important yet understudied demographic process. Research on migration in such populations can help us test and inform anthropological and demographic theory. Furthermore, it can lead to a better understanding of modern population distributions and epidemiologic landscapes.

BACKGROUND Local migration in developing-world settings, particularly among rural populations, is an important yet understudied demographic process. Research on migration in such populations can help us test and inform anthropological and demographic theory. Furthermore, it can lead to a better understanding of modern population distributions and epidemiologic landscapes.

Lao smallholders are experiencing livestock grazing land constraints due to resettlement, increasing cattle numbers and commercial cash crop plantations. In this paper we describe changes in cattle grazing systems in an upland village in northern Laos, including the role of forage crops and their effects on cattle productivity. We interviewed 92 Hmong and Khmu households about their migration history, cattle grazing practices, cattle productivity and other livelihood activities. In addition, we measured the heart girths of 231 cattle. We found that the traditional free-range cattle grazing has diverged into three distinct systems incorporating fields fenced to different degrees. Although none of the three systems increased cattle body size, the forage pasture and swidden-farming system successfully increased the grazing capacity compared with other systems. Thus, this method appeared to be the most suitable for Hmong smallholders to manage crop and cattle production in the context o...

This chapter looks at everyday human behavior, agricultural development, and water use in mainland Southeast Asia and asks what kinds of mechanisms have formed in human societies that have developed in tandem with the biosphere and geosphere of the tropics. With the industrial revolution and the formation of modern nation-states, human societies acquired new technological regimes leading to the reorganization of social life on an unprecedented scale. In the twentieth century, this unleashed a great production capacity that has supported materially abundant lifestyles. Yet simultaneously, this production capacity triggered various environmental issues and subsequent measures to deal with them. Currently, the tropics are a particularly striking example of the rapid decline and loss of species diversity and the irreversible environmental degradation brought about by subsequent large-scale agricultural development. This chapter aims to show that there coexist various development approac...

Potential and attainable yields of cassava in Northeast Thailand for the past 20 years were mapped using a crop model, resources databases and GIS tools. Potential yields of cassava reflected the potential productivity with air temperature and solar radiation as limiting factors, and the map of average potential yields indicated that the potential productivity of cassava was relatively high in this area with a high stability and small regional variations. On the other hand, attainable yields, which included the additional limiting factor, i.e. water conditions, and indicated the potential of cassava productivity under rain-fed conditions, were lower than potential yields in most areas of Northeast Thailand. Waterlogging and water stress were the main factors responsible for the reduction of attainable yields in the lowlands and mid-highlands, respectively. In the contrast to the potential yields, attainable yields showed large regional variations and higher attainable yields were observed in the mid-highlands than in the lowlands. In the lowlands, yearly variations of attainable yields were very large, whereas small in the mid-highlands. This suggested that relatively high and stable yields could be achieved in mid-highlands in Northeast Thailand if appropriate cultivation management were to be applied. Comparison of the maps of actual and attainable yields in 1997 indicated that in most of the cassava-producing areas actual yields were much lower than attainable yields, suggesting that there is enough room for the improvement of cassava productivity by the intensification of cultivation methods.

This paper traces the history of Luang Namtha, an intermontane valley basin in northern Laos, based on the narratives of non-Tai ethnic groups that collectively constitute a majority in the region. The narratives demonstrate the possibility of alternative histories of muang polities, which are a core part of our understanding g of Tai social and political organization. These narratives describe a central role for mountain people in the muang, including the formation, population, and development of what appears to be a Tai polity. This analysis suggests the need to open up our understanding of “traditional” Tai political spaces to accommodate an expanded historical agency for upland groups conventionally circumscribed within their own upland setting. This paper argues that the first step towards a more nuanced understanding of muang is recognizing them as cosmopolitan areas in which many sources g

This paper extends Alexandr Chayanov's model of changing household demography (specifically the ratio of food consumers to food producers) and its influence on agricultural behavior so that it includes possible adverse effects of a rising ratio on nutritional status and early childhood mortality within the household. We apply the model to 35 years' worth of longitudinal demographic and economic data collected in the irrigated-rice growing village of Na Savang in northern Laos. When appropriate controls are included for other household variables, unobserved inter-household heterogeneity, and changes in local conditions and national policy over the study period, the analysis suggests that a unit increase in the household's consumer/producer ratio induces something like a nine-fold increase in the risk of death among household members aged less than five years. Monte Carlo simulation studies suggest that this may be an overestimate but also that the effect is probably real and likely to be an important factor in household demography. At the very least, the results suggest that Chayanov's model still has theoretical relevance and deserves to be revived.

Aims Accurate estimates of bamboo biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) are required to evaluate the carbon sequestration potential of bamboo forests. However, relevant data that are important for climate change mitigation, have rarely been collected in regions outside of East Asia and India. Information on seasonal patterns of NPP and its components will enable the quantification of factors that influence the carbon balance in bamboo forests. In this study, we quantified the aboveground biomass (AGB) and aboveground NPP of five major bamboo species in northern Laos using monthly data collected over a 12-month period. Methods All live culms in 10, 2 m × 2 m plots (for one monopodial bamboo species: Indosasa sinica) and 30 clumps per species (for four sympodial bamboo species: Bambusa tulda, Cephalostachyum virgatum, Dendrocalamus membranaceus and Gigantochloa sp.) were numbered and measured at breast height. We set 10 or 20 litter traps per species to collect litterfall. Censuses of dead and recruited culms and litterfall collection were performed once per month for 12 months. Important Findings The AGB was highest in I. sinica (59.87 Mg ha −1) and lowest in C. virgatum (11.54 Mg ha −1), and was mostly below the plausible global range for bamboos (32-256 Mg ha −1). The sympatric distribution of multiple bamboo species at the study sites may have suppressed the AGB in four of the five studied species. The aboveground NPP estimates were between 3.43 and 14.25 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ; those for D. membranaceus (8.20 Mg ha −1 yr −1) and I. sinica (14.25 Mg ha −1 yr −1) were comparable to mean global estimates for temperate evergreen forests (8.78 Mg ha −1 yr −1) and tropical moist forests (10.56 Mg ha −1 yr −1). High culm recruitment rates (15.20-23.39% yr −1) were major contributors to aboveground NPP estimates. Seasonal patterns of aboveground NPP were largely influenced by the phenology of the new culms. In the four sympodial bamboo species, new culms began to emerge following the onset of persistent rainfall, mainly in July and August. However, the sprouting of new culms in the monopodial species I. sinica followed a trend of increasing temperatures, mainly in March and April. Thus, our results indicate that bamboos have considerable potential for sequestering carbon in northern Laos, but that this potential may be affected by climate change.

Inserts bearing the coding sequences of NPT II and β-glucuronidase (GUS) were placed between the nuclear inclusion b (NIb) and coat protein (CP) domains of the wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) polyprotein ORF. The WSMV NIb-CP junction containing the nuclear inclusion a ( ...

Rice tungro disease (RTD) is a serious constraint to rice production in South and Southeast Asia. RTD is caused by Rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV) and Rice tungro bacilliform virus. Rice cv. Utri Merah is resistant to RTSV. To identify the gene or genes involved in RTSV resistance, the association of genotypic and phenotypic variations for RTSV resistance was examined in backcross populations derived from Utri Merah and rice germplasm with known RTSV resistance. Genetic analysis revealed that resistance to RTSV in Utri Merah was controlled by a single recessive gene (tsv1) mapped within an approximately 200-kb region between 22.05 and 22.25 Mb of chromosome 7. A gene for putative translation initiation factor 4G (eIF4Gtsv1) was found in the tsv1 region. Comparison of eIF4Gtsv1 gene sequences among susceptible and resistant plants suggested the association of RTSV resistance with one of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites found in exon 9 of the gene. Examination of the ...