Study on the impacts of feeder road Expansion on livelihood in Natong Cluster, Huaphan Province, Lao PDR

Phaipasith Sonnasack. 2016. Study on the impacts of feeder road Expansion on livelihood in Natong Cluster, Huaphan Province, Lao PDR. Nanjing : Hohai University, 98 p. Master of Public Administration : Land Resource Management : Hohai University

Encadrement : Shi, Guoqing ; Castella, Jean-Christophe ; Du, Xindong

Résumé : Maize is an important cash crop in commercial agriculture system in northern Laos. Maize production constrains with the lack of production areas and the sparse of road network for transporting products led to feeder road construction to reach maize production areas with hand tractors or small trucks. This has been widely increased in the north part where people rely on growing maize as a cash crop for better livelihood. The study assesses the impact of the feeder roads on livelihood through statistical analysis and quantified spatial pattern based on spatial analysis employing Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing Techniques. The data used for livelihood analysis include primary data from field work in the beginning of 2016 and secondary data from Catch-Up project in 2009 (www.asia-uplands.org/Catch-Up/index.php), and data used in spatial pattern analysis include Landsat imageries (2003, 2008, 2013, and 2015), SPOT image of 2015, aerial photo of 2014, data from ground survey in 2016, and other related GIS data. The study revealed that: 1) The impacts of the feeder roads expansion on livelihood were both positive and negative. The positive impact was that it eased accessing to production areas, reduced constrains with accessing to the fields and products transportation. It allowed remote communities engage into the market economy through intensive cropping of maize. Villagers could invest in basic livelihood assets such as better house, motorcycles for transportation, send children to schools, etc. and also invest in off-farm activities. However, these maize-driven land use changes also came with negative impacts such as reduction of income from NTFP, soil erosion and land degradation that reduce the yields in the upland fields and force villagers to use more inputs, to contract more debts and engage in more economically risky activities as compared with the previous decade. 2) Feeder road expansion in order to support maize production led to changes in spatial pattern arrangement. It caused decreasing of natural forest cover in every year. Agricultural land, in particular upland crop system, increased inversely to open forest. The expansion of agricultural land seemed to move towards to forest areas. Land use intensity gradually emerged along the feeder roads and land sparing appeared as at the beginning state. Different livelihood alternatives are already explored by villagers and may be further supported by development projects in the future such as conservation agriculture or opportunities for income diversification through livestock or off-farm activities.

Mots-clés libres : Agricultural expansion, Maize, Feeder roads, Livelihoods, Laos

Auteurs et affiliations

• Phaipasith Sonnasack, Hohai University (CHN)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/590185/)

Métriques

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