(Pages: 176 - 194, PROCEEDINGS OF REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL      PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES.)

Nguyen The Phuong and Nong Huu Duong

Center for Agricultural Research and Ecological Studies (CARES)

Hanoi University of Agriculture , Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Tha Lang Hamlet, a community of the Kho Mu ethnic minority is located in Bao Thang Commune, Ky Son District, Nghe An Province, a remote area with difficult access to markets. In 1993, the growing of opium, Tha Lang’s main market crop, was banned. The objective of this research is to provide an overview of the role that non-timber  forest products (NTFPs), extracted from primary- and secondary-forest and fallow areas, play in livelihood strategies and household economic activities in this village in the remote upland region of the Upper Ca River Basin, Nghe An, Vietnam.

Our research found that after stopping opium cultivation, the village’s farmers have primarily practiced subsistence agriculture. NTFPs play a relatively important role in households in terms of consumption and selling and bartering. NTFPs were considered a gap-filling supplement, especially during the agricultural season and used as diverse sources of income. The main reason for NTFPs’ limited economic role appeared to be the high costs and difficulties associated with transporting them from the hamlet to the province’s main road, Highway 7A. In contrast, a comparison of the role of NTFPs in Que, a hamlet in the Con Cuong District with easier access to markets, was carried out and showed that NTFPs generated considerably higher income in comparison to that in Tha Lang and the role of NTFPs was considerably different from that in Tha Lang. The research also showed that NTFPs were not the main or only source of cash income in Tha Lang; instead, people earned most of their income from animal husbandry. This suggests that animal husbandry development is a way to improve the economy of Tha Lang specifically and mountainous areas in Vietnam in general because of its lack of need for access to market.

Key Words: household economy, livelihood strategies, NTFPs, Upper Ca River Basin, Nghe An

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