the zoning policy; certain zones are nominated by the Laos govemment not to hav
e any further increase in shifting cultivation. Thus by intensively cultivating
the paddy-rice fields, the Laos government attempted to increase the productivi
ty. The best way of shift-ing cultlvatlon is to conduct it in a very concentrat
ed manner, but this will again start the negatlve impact of erosion.
I have the comparisons of Nepal and Indonesia. Indonesia and Nepal have a simil
ar practice of shifting cultivation. They have, however, constructed banks and
over many years they worked out a system preventing and minimizing erosion. In
the Lao Republic, however, such efforts to avoid erosion are not made, i.e. the
y cannot afford the time and money to construct banks or fortify the soil. Ther
efore, shifting cultivation is done with-out care, unlike Indonesia or Nepal. T
hey spent many years to improve its infrastructure to conserve water and avoid
erosion, they are now benefiting from higher yields and hlgher productivity. In
the absence of such mechanism, Laos would be well-advised to stop the entire sh
ifting cultivation practice and encourage people to migrate to other ar-eas.
Now in the southern part of the country there are paddy fields. The land availa
ble for cul-tlvatlon accounts for only 4 percent of the total landmass. Japan i
s also covered with many mountains, but notwithstanding its topology, Japan has
at least ten-some percent-age of the arable land. However, Laos is indeed a mou
ntainous country with just 4 per-cent of cultivated land. Therefore Laos will h
ave to really conduct more intensive and extensive farming to achieve higher yi
elds, taking full advantage of paddy fields. How-ever, of the total paddy field
s, with or without rainfall, only 2 percent of the paddy fields have artificial
irrigation. In other words, in other 98 percent of areas they just depend on ra
in.
Water can be drawn from the Mekong River for artificial irrigation using pumps
or build canals to their paddy fields. This costs money, whether it's pumps or
water canals, it will requlre investment. The country simply does not have the
money. If they cannot use the water resources from the river, they must pray an
d hope for rainfalls and cannot enjoy a stable agriculture.
Until a decade ago, the country was under the socialist regime. The Lao Republi
c gov-emment organized govemment-owned farms and cooperatives and engaged
in a com-mand economy. In other words, they imposed government plans on the
farmers. This has been the case for Laos until ten years ago.
However, durlng the last d ecade they embarked upon a new economic policy,
which is an equivalent to the D oi Moi policy in Vietnam. They are trying
to shift away from a social-ist-plann ed economy to a more market-oriented
economy, which, for the Lao Republic means that the govemment will no longer
determine the prices of the agricultural prod uce. Who will determine the
prices of fertilizers and chemicals? These will be determlned by the producers
and consumers. In other words, the govemment no lon ger has a say on pricing,
and that is the consequence of a market economy. A ma rket economy must have
