foodstuffs, Laos imports foodstuffs to supplement the lack of domestic supply.
Ten percent of the imports in monetary value is food, although 90 percent of th
e population is earning their living by agriculture and forestry. Still the sup
ply of the food Is not enough domestically. Laos spends 10 percent of its forei
gn currency to import food to supple-ment the deficiency in its domestic food p
roduction. In order to earn the foreign currency for importing foodstuffs, what
is the export items? Mountains and forests cover a large area, therefore, timbe
r and wood products, including logs, are exported, as well the tex-tile goods,
to accumulate foreign currency. However, the use of wood products for export wi
ll in turn result in deforestation, and the destruction of the forests soon.
Furthermore, about 20 percent of the population live in the area between the mo
untains and the lowlands. The lowlands, close to the Mekong River, have 60 perc
ent of the total population. However, 20 percent of the total population lives
in the upper hillside, in be-tween the lowlands and the high mountainous areas.
In the practice of shifting cultivation, mainly for a certain period, the fores
t is burnt down to get ashes, which is utilized as fertilizer in the cultivatio
n of the upland rice and other foodstuffs. The 20 percent of the population liv
ing in between the lowlands and the mountalnous areas of an altitude of one tho
usand meters migrates to the steep hillside upland area. The cultivation of the
steep upland area causes flooding in case of very strong rainfall, preventing a
ccumulation of fertilizers nurturing the forest in the future. Therefore the de
struction of the Laotian forests should be prevented.
What is Important for Laos is also important for all surrounding countries; nam
ely, the forest in Laos should be maintained to prevent the erosion in the surr
ounding countries. In other words, the erosion in Laos may cost a major disaste
r in the surrounding countries. So this is not only an issue of Laos, but it is
also an issue for the surrounding countries. Preserving and maintaining the for
est in Laos in a healthy and the safe manner will pre-serve the power generatio
n supply and water resources for the irrigation not only in Laos but also for t
he surrounding countries. The current issue of how Laos can meet such ex-pectat
ions and arrive at solutions were the two frequent issues in our survey. First
of all, the shifting cultivation in Laos is destroying the forests, the upper l
and and the hillside area. So how can the destruction of the forest and the upp
er land area due to the shift in cultivation be prevented?
Secondly, the vlcinity of the Mekong River delta and the valley area, where 60
percent of the total population is concentrated, is living on paddy-rice. Howev
er, the paddy-rice productivity and efficiency is very low--maybe less than hal
f of its Japanese counterpart. Thus the other issue is how to improve the produ
ctivity of the paddy-rice fields. Once there is an increase in paddy-rice produ
ctivity, then the food supply will be increased, and will not require the Impor
t of foodstuffs.
An Additional point of consideration is in the north, the mountainous area is s
ubject to an increase in the population. This will further increase the coverag
e of thc shifting culti-vatlon, in turn totally burning and flushing out the fo
rests, resulting in major erosion of
