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Farm household’s rice diversity management in Luang Prabang Province, Lao PDR
Dissertation Abstract:
The study was conducted in Hat-kham Village in Luangprabang District and Pak-pa Village in Pak-Ou District in Luang Prabang, Province, Lao PDR. The general objective of the study was to determine the management of rice diversity among the farming households in the study sites. A total of 117 farmers from the two villages served as respondents of the study. Spearman rank correlation and eta correlation analyses were employed to determine the significant factors related to seed and variety management and rice diversity.
There were important improvements in the living standard of farmers between 2000 and 2009. It resulted from various programs of rural infrastructures and also from changes in income-generating activities. These included crop diversification as well as alcohol production, gardening, and animal husbandry in Hat-kham. However, rice production remained the important source of livelihood in the village. The changes in farming activities resulted in mitigation of agronomic problems of rice plots, thereby favoring the farmers’ use of modern varieties (MVs) over the traditional varieties (TVs). The farmers’ objective in rice growing, the service of formal seed system, and the provision of agro-support services were emphasized much toward attaining increase in productivity, thereby favoring the use of MVs since they meet the demands of productivity increase better.
Between 2001 and 2009, the total number of rice cultivars, especially the TVs decreased in Pak-pa. The distribution of the MVs became more widespread but the TVs narrowed down. At the household level, the mean total number of varieties also decreased. This resulted mainly from the reduction in the number of TVs, though this did not change for winter rice in Hat-kham. The change in the total area abundance of rice growing households was not significant. However, the share of MV area increased but TV decreased. Exception was found in Hat-kham, where during summer rice season, the farmers still maintained the TVs for deep-water rice fields.
Seed source from farmers remained the factor that influenced variety richness and area abundance in both study areas and in both rice seasons of the year. In 2000–2009, seed exchanges increased in the two study areas. The participation of the seed company also increased. Therefore, recommendations were made on improving the local seed system and seed policy to produce seeds of preferred varieties accessible to the farmers, building awareness on the value of rice diversity, and promotion of variety variability among the farmers using community-based initiatives.