MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF LAND USE PLANNING AND LAND ALLOCATION IMPACTS. - Final Results Report -

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1 Page 1 of 57 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute Forest Inventory and Planning Centre - LAO PDR MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF LAND USE PLANNING AND LAND ALLOCATION IMPACTS - Final Results Report Bantheung Keoketsy (FIPC) Soukanh Bounthabandid (FIPC) Jonas Noven (AF/SMG SCC Natura) Lao Swedish Forestry Programme LAND USE PLANNING SUB-PROGRAM September 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. METHODOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TESTED APPROACHES FOR VILLAGE-BASED MONITORING Questionnaires Group discussions Field observations Monitoring indicators Special land accessibility, soil conservation and land use changes study Gender issues OFFICE BASED MONITORING LSFP districts Outside LSFP, (non-project) districts INFORMATION STORAGE 5 3. RESULTS FROM PARTICIPATORY VILLAGE-BASED MONITORING INTRODUCING RECORDED PROBLEMS Type of problems ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, (INDICATOR A1:A6) 10

2 Page 2 of Forest and Land Management Agreement (indicator A1) Forest Land Use Types (indicator A2) Forest and Agricultural Land Intrusions or Violations (indicators A3, A5) Agricultural Land Use Changes (indicator A4) Land Use and Soil Conservation Practices (indicator A6) SOCIAL IMPACTS, (INDICATOR B1:B7) Accessibility to Land (indicator B1) Land sufficiency (indicator B6) Land Use Certificates TLUC (indicator B2) Disputes (indicator B3) Access to NTFP (indicator B4) Rice production (indicator B5) Workload and Labour situation (indicator B7) ECONOMIC IMPACTS, (INDICATOR C1:C5) NTFP revenue (indicator C1) Timber revenue (indicator C2) Family income (indicator C3) Fruit and Commercial tree planting (indicator C4) Domestic animals (indicator C5) PARTICIPATORY OFFICE-BASED MONITORING STAFF ADOPTION OF LUP/LA "BETTER PRACTICES" Usage of Equipment, Materials and Aids, (indicator 1) Participatory Procedures and Methods (the 8 steps model), (indicator 2) Distribution of final documents, (indicator 5) Level of Participation, (Indicator 3) Collection and Analysis of Data, LA Criteria, (indicator 4) Monitoring and Evaluation, (indicator 6) STAFF S SELF-EVALUATION INFORMATION STORAGE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS THE LA PROCESS MONITORING Monitoring activity Monitoring methods Part II - TARGET VILLAGE REPORTS INTRODUCTION 31 LUANG PHABANG 31 Ban no 10, Xieng Ngeun district 31

3 Page 3 of 57 SAYABOULI 36 Ban Namtap, Hongsa district 36 Ban Napoong, Hongsa district 40 SAVANNAKHET 44 Ban Xienglekhok, Phalanxay district 44 SALAVANE 48 Ban Inpaeng, Lao Ngam district 48 Ban Vangkhanan, Lao Ngam district Introduction PART I In order to increase villagers involvement in management of natural resources such as forest and agricultural land the Government of Lao PDR has initiated a land allocation process in which villagers are allocated land parcels and zones of forest land. The villagers are given the rights to use the land through a land use certificate issued by the District Agricultural and Forestry Office (DAFO). The long-term objective is to stabilise the utilisation of land so that natural resources will be used in a sustainable way. The GoL has adopted "the 8 steps model" for Participatory Land Use Planning and Land Allocation, in which Monitoring and Evaluation is one of the last steps. It means that it is an activity carried out after the land allocation exercise has been completed and on a continuous basis. This report aims at describing the results obtained during the two years under which development of a methodology for monitoring and evaluation has been carried out. It contains detailed analysed results obtained during numerous field trips. It also includes presentations from some target villages. Different approaches have been tested during the visits, such as interviews with individual farmers and gender dis-aggregated group discussions. Visits have also been made to villages with no land allocation. The working methodology itself has been described in detail in "technical booklet no 8, Monitoring and Evaluation of Land Use Planning and Land Allocation activities", which is part of the technical booklet series produced by the Land Use Planning subprogramme. Another part of the monitoring work has been to assess the level of adoption of LUP/LA procedures and methods by district staff and office management of LUP/LA information. 2. Methodology development 2.1 Tested approaches for Village-based monitoring Questionnaires Special questionnaires were prepared in connection to the production of the PLUMP manual. Those have been revised after numerous field trials. There is one special for interviewing the village committee and another for individual families. Those were used during the initial round to the villages last year and this year. It proved to be a valuable tool for initial monitoring, because it allows collection of baseline data from individuals and it is also easy to use for inexperienced staff. The drawback is that is difficult to draw any conclusions on the longer term impacts from land allocation. That is why broader discussion topics were developed for the second round of visits.

4 Page 4 of Group discussions In order to get broader opinions from more than just a few sample families and from different groups in the community, a set of discussion topics was developed to facilitate that. The idea being that it would enable more open discussions in a participatory and friendly atmosphere, reducing the feeling of "control". The topics were derived from the questions in the questionnaire, to cover all important issues connected to land allocation. Also general topics about livelihood and village development are included. The experience from using those topics in gender disaggregated group discussions and also with the village committee, has been positive. A lot of valuable information has been obtained that did not come out from using only questionnaires. Special emphasis has been put on assessing women s opinions on land use planning aspects, which is very important considering that they in many cases have more field experience than men. The response from district staff has also been positive since they have expressed that through this way of working one obtains very good information, which helps their work on improving LUP/LA Field observations Field walks have also been an important part of the work. During the walks villagers explain what problems they have in the field and a general feeling or picture of the village can be obtained. So far no extensive walks have been made, but only short ones to see for example a village weir or a model plantation Monitoring indicators For all of the above mentioned approaches, special indicators have been developed to support information gathering. The establishment of indicators means to decide a characteristic of a process or a thing, that is measurable and that is desirable to measure. In this case indicators have been established to help measuring impacts from LUP/LA in several aspects. The indicators have been developed in two sets for each aspect, for measuring long-term and short-term impacts Special land accessibility, soil conservation and land use changes study This study aimed at assessing impacts on individual farmers, in terms of land use changes and land accessibility changes. In order to get this information special questionnaires were used, where questions are asked about amount of paddy and upland used, land quality, difficulties with land use, etc. Special forms for noting down land use changes over the last 5 years and if there are any soil conservation practices were also created. Results from this study show interesting trends in land use and radical changes in land accessibility. The complete results can be found in "Field report 8". The most important findings can also be found later in this report Gender issues As mentioned above, the group discussion approach was introduced to ensure participation of women as well. In the normal household interview, in most cases, there were men answering the questions, since they are normally the heads of the households. Even though the women usually are the ones working the fields and thereby got good experience and knowledge about agriculture, it has been a problem to get staff to realise this. Their attitude is that during women s discussions, things like health and sanitary problems, to much workload and related matters, come up which is considered not interesting in the LUP/LA context. It is considered a waste of time basically and interviewing women does not come naturally to the staff. However, our trials have shown that information coming from women is very useful and should not be neglected. The developed methodology provides for female participation in ME, it is just a matter of realising the importance of implementing it. 2.2 Office based monitoring LSFP districts In order to assess how district staff have adopted the developed procedures and methods, a special questionnaire has been produced. It covers all the steps in the land allocation process and also a special self evaluation which works as a kind of training needs assessment. The questionnaire covers questions like what materials are used or what kind of meetings are held with the villagers. It has been used in all target districts and the results are found later in this report.

5 Page 5 of Outside LSFP, (non-project) districts A special assessment on how the 8 steps LA methodology has been adopted outside the LSFP provinces has also been made. Sekong and Luang Namtha provinces were studied in order to see the applicability of LSFP methods in a non-project situation. 2.3 Information storage During the LUP/LA exercises a lot of data and information is collected and produced, such as maps, land use certificates and socio-economic data. It is important that this information is stored properly in order to avoid degradation of it or prevent that data become lost. There have been many cases where data is lost or damaged. In every case data is stored unsystematically and thus difficult to access. Methods for storage have been worked out and are described in technical booklet no 4 "Procedures for Storage and Protection of Land Use Planning and Land Allocation Information". To assist the district in introducing proper storage techniques, hardback folders for certificates and plastic map tubes have been acquired and given to the offices. They have also been advised to budget for more of those materials. 3. Results from Participatory Village-based monitoring 3.1 Introduction Since May 1998, when the real monitoring activity started, target districts and villages have been visited frequently. A total of 24 villages in 8 districts in the four target provinces have been covered, plus 6 villages in three districts outside LSFP. The following table shows visits made. Table 1: Overview of villages and visits made Province District Village Ethnic group LA date ME 1 ME 2 ME 3 ME 4 Sayabouli Hongsa DAFO x 05/98 06/99 12/99 05/00 Namtap Khmu 11/95 05/98 06/99 12/99 05/00 Huay Yeu - 11/96 06/ Napoong Khmu Hmong Yao Lao 02/96 06/98 06/99 12/99 05/00 Phiang Nasamphan Khmu / Nangeun Hmong / Navene Lao / Luang Phabang Xieng Ngeun DAFO x 06/98 06/99 11/99 03/00 Kok Ngiou - 03/97 06/ No 10 Khmu 03/96 06/98 05/99 11/99 03/00 No 7 Khmu 03/97 06/98 05/ Silalek? 03/ Nan Phanip Lao, Yao 04/96 06/98 02/99 12/99 -

6 Page 6 of 57 Thali Lao /99 05/ Phongdong Lao 03/97 06/98 02/ Dane Hmong No LA 02/ Savannakhet Atsaphone DAFO X 08/98 12/98 01/00 - Koutkene Phutay 02/96 08/98 01/ Songhong Phutay 08/98 01/ Phakanya Phutay No LA 12/ Phalanxay DAFO X 08/98 12/98 01/00 - Nalay Makong 02/98 08/98 01/ Xiengle Makong 02/97 08/97 08/98 01/00 - Non Sa-at - No LA 12/ Phin DAFO X 09/98 12/98 06/99 - Kanin Makong 02/97 12/ Aluay-K Makong 02/98 09/98 11/ Nathong Makong 08/98 06/99 11/ Salavane Lao Ngam DAFO X 09/98 06/99 02/00 - Nasey Souay 03/98 09/98 06/ Vangkhanan Souay 05/97 09/98 06/99 02/00 Muon Thae Souay /96 09/ Inpaeng Souay 05/96 07/97 09/98 06/99 02/00 Outside LSFP Sekong Lamam DAFO X 06/00 Doksaming Laven /00 Kasangkan Alak /00 Tateng DAFO X 06/00 Sendtay Alak /00 Luang Namtha Sing DAFO 07/00 Namdedkao Akha /00 Namdedmai Akha /00 Saylek Yao / Recorded problems After every village visit a special form has been prepared, which lists the recorded problems that were encountered in the village. It also contains a section for proposed solutions to the problems or suggestions. The experience has been that in many cases, the suggested solutions only states that this is something that the DAFO will have to deal with. At least one or in some cases two forms per village have been prepared so far. The idea is to leave something behind for the district staff to work with and when returning discuss what have been done to respond to the problems. The following table shows the rate of problem solution for each village:

7 Page 7 of 57 Table 2: The use of "problem forms" Village Form issue date No probl. of No of Solved probl. Form issue date No of probl. No of Solved probl. Form issue date No probl. of No of Solved probl. Namtap May Jun Dec 99 4 Huay Yeu May Napoong May Jun Dec 99 4 Nasamphan Feb 99 5 Nangeun Feb 99 3 Navene Feb 99 5 Phanip May Dec 99 Thali Dec 99 3 Phongdong May 98 7 No 10 May May No 7 May May Songhong Jan 00 0 Koutkene Aug Jan 00 1 Nalay Aug Jan 00 2 Xienglekhok Aug Jan 00 1 Aluay-K Sep Nov 99 6 Nathong Jun Kanin Dec 98 Inpaeng Aug Sep Jun Vangkhanan Sep Jun Nasey Sep Muon Thae Sep Note that the no. of problems are only the ones connected to LUP/LA. Thus extension, health or gender related matters have been left out. Whereas it is difficult to compare the rate of problem solving directly, due to different conditions such as the severity or complexity of it, or other constraints, it is however possible to see trends on how the districts are able to solve problems Type of problems The following is an attempt to classify the problems into several categories, so that one can see the prevalence of certain problems. There are 8 main categories of which 5 are directly connected to land use planning, (6 if one counts extension). Under each category there are a few typical problems that all have been encountered during the ME work. A Boundary conflicts: 1. Inter-village boundary disputes (Unclear border which is not adequately marked, or disagreement where the boundary is located) 2. Plot boundary disputes

8 Page 8 of 57 (Unclear plot boundaries, overlapping plots, not measured plots, not marked plots) B Land use conflicts: 1. With other villages (Other villagers use land on the wrong side of the border, intruding forest fires, improper land use that has an impact on other villages) 2. Inside the village (People use other peoples land, improper land use, uncontrolled forest fires) C Forest land intrusions: 1. Clearing of new land for agriculture (People clear land outside the agricultural zone for cropping, new land or fallow) 2. Logging for selling timber or domestic use (People cut timber for domestic or commercial purpose in protected forest zones) 3. Poaching and killing wild animals (People kill protected animals) D Land management problems: 1. Use of non-allocated plots (People use land that has not been allocated, either inside or outside the agricultural zone) 2. Improper land trading (People buy or sell land, swap certificates) 3. DAFO - village communication / co-operation problems (Village committee is bypassed by DAFO, Slack work from DAFO, work mistakes) 4. Lack of awareness of the village agreement / LU contracts (People do not understand LUP/LA, do not follow the village agreement) 5. People do not use all their land (Villagers leave allocated plots unused) E Land availability/ accessibility problems 1. General lack of land (The available amount of agricultural land is to small to sustain subsidence) 2. Difficulties for newcomers to find land (Residents have enough land but newcomers cannot get any) 3. Land use zones problems (Unclear zones, need of new zones typically grazing) 4. New land claims (Villagers claim more land to use) F Social and Gender problems 1. Labour problems (Unfair division of labour / lack of labour) 2. Family planning problems (Too many children are born, lack of contraceptives) 3. Ethnic tensions or other social problems (Problems with assimilation of resettled groups, friendship problems with neighbouring villages) G Extension related problems 1. Lack of funds for agriculture / livestock (People need funds to develop agro production and increase livestock) 2. Irrigation problems (Lack of water, not functioning weirs or canals, need of irrigation schemes) 3. Livestock / insects problems (Livestock diseases, insects or animals destroying crops) 4. Improvement suggestions / knowledge level problems (Need of soil improvement, lack of knowledge about agro techniques, wishes to change land use) 5. Rice deficit

9 Page 9 of 57 (Low rice yield, bad paddy quality, lack of rice to feed the family) 6. Training needs (Needs for study tours or training courses on different things) H Health and sanitation problems / Education problems 1. Need of drinking water or village well (No access to safe drinking water, problems with or no village well) 2. Need of health facilities (No or difficult access to medical care, lack of medicaments) 3. Need of school or improvements (No or difficult access to a school, no teachers, torn school building etc.) Table 3: Summary of problems prevalence Problem SLV SVK LPB SYB Total No of Villages a a b b c c c d d d d d e e e e f f f g g g g g g h

10 Page 10 of 57 h h Sum This table is very dependent upon who wrote the problem forms and what was included in them. Also what method was used, i.e. questionnaires or discussion topics. One can see that the top five problems are: g3: Problems with livestock diseases / destroying fields or insects destroying crops a2: Plot boundary disputes, not measured or measured incorrectly b1: Land use conflicts with other villages (intrusions, forest fires etc.) c1: Clearing of land for agriculture (new land or improper land) g4: Villagers suggestions for land use changes / improvements / lack of techniques The biggest LUP/LA issue is thus the internal agricultural plot disputes, where boundaries are uncertain or measured overlapping, alternatively as one piece. This might be a result of mistakes done when measuring plots or simply slack work by DAFO. Another reason might be that after LA someone else claimed the same land. The following sections presents results obtained in the monitoring activity. It is divided by indicators to make it more comprehendable. The results are based on the use of questionnaires and discussions in the villages. 3.3 Environmental impacts, (indicator A1:A6) Forest and Land Management Agreement (indicator A1) Short-term Indicator Has there been an agreement made or not? Has the agreement been spread or not? Long-term Indicator The level of knowledge about the agreement by villagers (men and women), i.e. how many people know and understand the contents. No of neighbouring villages with a copy of the agreement The village agreement As can be seen from the graph below, before LA there were only about 30% of the villages that had an agreement, in most cases only verbal. After LA however 95% of the villages had a written village agreement. The last 5% represent villages where the agreement was never handed out to the village, or it was not properly completed. In villages without LA there were two with verbal agreements and one without any at all.

11 Page 11 of 57 Distribution of the agreement Graph 1: Percentage of villages with village agreement Even though agreements have been produced in almost all villages during LA, the problem is that they are not distributed to neighbouring villages. In only one case a LSFP village received an agreement from a neighbour. About a third of the LSFP villages distributed their agreement to other neighbours. Comments LA has had a good impact in creating written village rules, which previously predominantly were customary verbal agreements. This is further emphasised by the overwhelming majority of villagers that have positive attitudes towards the written rules. "Now, after LA, we all know whose land is whose and where it is located, we furthermore know what rules apply to each land use zone. This makes the land situation much clearer and it has decreased the number of disputes in the village" Forest Land Use Types (indicator A2) Short-term Indicator No of and which LU zones have been agreed upon as compared to before LA Long-term Indicator The level of knowledge about the different zones and the regulations concerning them As mentioned above not many villages had an agreement before LA and in those cases only verbal. The verbal agreements in most cases typically specify sacred forest, cemetery and another forest type (conservation or village use). The rest of the land is not zoned. After LA, however, the land has been zoned into more categories such as conservation, protection, production or village use forests, agricultural land, watersource protection forest, village area, cemetery, etc. The level of awareness of the various zones seems quite high, most villagers know the different zones and where they are. The village land use map that is usually displayed on a signboard in the village is a good way to remind villagers and to make them aware Forest and Agricultural Land Intrusions or Violations (indicators A3, A5) Short-term Indicator No of incidents (by villagers or others) No of violations against the agreement in forest and/or agricultural zones No of farmers that use other plots than allocated Long-term Indicator Villagers ability to follow the agreement No of incidents Violations against the agreement This was reported in 33% of the villages for intrusions in forest areas and 25% for violations in agricultural areas. This includes for example illegal felling of timber or usage of non-allocated land in or outside the agricultural zone. For non-la villages the numbers are 66% and 0% respectively. Land management problems, types of violations The most common violation in forest areas (and third biggest problem overall), is clearing of new land for agriculture. 70% of the cases are found in the North. The second most common incident is illegal logging for selling or for domestic use. Those trees are cut in protected forest zones. In the overall village problem ranking, this problem is found in the middle of the list Agricultural Land Use Changes (indicator A4) Short-term Indicator No of upland plots used compared to before LA Long-term Indicator Level of permanency in land use, (nonper. plots / per. plots

12 Page 12 of 57 No of new developed paddy plots Fallow period / intensity in land use Productivity of the agricultural land A special study was made in 5 villages in the North to assess land use changes since LA. All farmers were asked what they used their land for every year since 1996 and what the plans are for next year. The analysis was made as follows: For each year the total number of plots used for a specific crop was summarised. Because the total number of plots differs each year, a percentage was calculated. That shows how much percent of the land that was used for each crop each year. The following table shows the percentages: Table 4: Land Use per year over a 5 year period Summary LU (% of plots) Fallow Hillrice Maize Fruit trees Poh Saa Jobs tear Pineapple Cassava Sesame Cotton Teak Ginger Tea Comments to the table In % of the land was under fallow. Together with hillrice and maize cropping this land use system constituted 93 % of the total land use. This year however land under fallow, maize and hillrice make up 74%, meaning that other crops have been introduced. Land under fruit trees has increased significantly from nothing in to cover 10% of the land next year. Job s tear made it s way from 2,5% in 97 and 98 to reach a peak in 99 with 9,5% of the land. Obviously people have lost faith in it this year and next year when it is back to 2-3% again. Pineapple is increasing steadily and so is sesame and poh saa Land Use and Soil Conservation Practices (indicator A6) Short-term Indicator No of farmers following LU recommendations No of farmers practising contour ditches or vegetative strips or other type of soil conservation practice Long-term Indicator No of farmers adopting erosion control measures Yield Amount of erosion

13 Page 13 of 57 During LA recommendations on land use and soil conservation techniques are supposed to be given. It has been said that most farmers try to follow LU recommendations, but there is not much done about soil conservation. During the special study in the North the following was found: Outside test or model plots not much done at all, regarding soil conservation. In two of the five villages there are no conservation measures taken whatsoever. In Silalek there are contour ditches or planting on 17% of the plots. 3.4 Social impacts, (indicator B1:B7) Accessibility to Land (indicator B1) Short-term Indicator No of farmers with no land No of families that have access to different types of land as compared with before LA Long-term Indicator Population growth (Same as short-term) and Land sufficiency (indicator B6) Short-term Indicator No of sample families that has less, no change or more land than before LA No of farmers that have requested more land Has the village got reserve agricultural land or not? Long-term Indicator No of requests for more land by permanent already established families Area of reserve land, sufficient or not, taking population increase into account When it comes to changes in land possession, i.e. number of upland / paddy plots used before and after LA there are significant changes since LA. The special study mentioned above also surveyed farmers land possessions before and after LA. Upland accessibility in the North Table 5: Upland use before and after LA in five northern villages (LPB and SYB) Before LA 215 plots 4,4 per family After LA, allocated 115 plots 2,3 per family After LA, used 128 plots 2,6 per family It can be seen that, on an average, the land access is 53% of the case before LA. The reasons being mainly that people were not allowed to get more than 2-4 plots during LA, but also that some people have converted to paddy farming. Paddy changes in the North Of the interviewed 49 farmers, 27 are engaged in paddy farming. 20 plots have always been farmed and there are 7 new plots since LA. Another 4 will be developed and they have also reduced their upland because of this. 8 families would like to have paddy if land was available. When looking at the results from the first ME round where at least 8 villages were visited, 39% of the farmers increased their paddy land. In the South it can clearly be seen in a place like Lao Ngam district in Salavane, that land use is more and more directed towards cash crops, most notably bananas and coffee. In the Savannakhet situation land use has changed to more permanent cropping through new paddy development. The following section presents results obtained during the first ME round.

14 Page 14 of 57 Upland changes in the South There is a significant change in what types of land people use after LA. In the South 21% increased their upland possessions (Salavane) and 47% decreased (Savannakhet). Graph 2: Upland changes in Salavane and Savannakhet target villages Important note: The figures for upland used before LA might be given as claimed upland and not in fact all the land used. The figures for after LA could be only land allocated, which in many cases are just a portion of all land being used. The increase would then represent going from non-allocated to allocated land. Paddy land If upland has decreased then paddy possessions has increased. In the South 24% of the farmers increased their paddy land possessions. However most people (70%) did not change, meaning they always have had paddy or never. The following graph summarises paddy changes in the South and North. Access to other types of land Graph 3: Paddy land changes in Salavane and Savannakhet target villages It is very rare that families have no land at all. If they do not have land, the reasons could be: they are new settlers, they are older widowed people or they make their living trough trade or other activities. The worst case was in Ban Nasamphan where there were as much as 40 new families without land in Feb 99. Access to village use forests and reserve land has been investigated in all villages and it shows increased access as follows: Village use forest Before LA 49% of farmers had access to village use forests. After LA it increased to 78%. There is a bigger difference in the North than in the South, but not much. For non-la villages 87% claimed to have access to village use forests. For interpretation of this it is important to note that maybe there were nothing called "village use forests" before LA and thus they had no access to an established zone, whereas they actually had free access to many forest areas. Reserve land Also access to reserve land has increased after LA. Previously 43% of the farmers had access to reserve land and after LA 67%. The numbers are equally distributed over the country. For non-la villages also 67% have access to reserve land. This land could also be reserve land that the family keep themselves in case the family grows or splits up. For the village reserve land, 59% of the farmers said the village had that type of land, particularly in the South. Only 27% had requested more land to use, but of those requests only 7% were approved. In non-la villages 50% said the village had common reserve land but no one had claimed more to use.

15 Page 15 of 57 Graph 4: Access to reserve land before and after LA The actual amount of reserve land available per family varies between villages. On average every family has 4-5 ha of reserve land available. The following list presents the details. Table 6: Amount of reserve land per family Village Namtap Phongdong No 10 Napoong Xienglekhok Huay Njeu Aluay Khamnoi Nasey Phanip Thali Reserve land per family ha 7.30 ha 5.43 ha 4.71 ha 4.37 ha 3.81 ha 3.48 ha 3.13 ha 0.56 ha 0.38 ha In the special land accessibility study from the North it was found that when it comes to land claims, 87% got what they claimed and the rest claimed more than they were allowed to. It might seem strange that people did not claim more, since their land possessions were decreased by almost half, but people wanted to avoid taxes and possibly also hide some "family reserve plots". 63% of the interviewed farmers would like more land to use. In numbers at least 1,4 additional plots were wished for per family. That would mean on aggregate around 4 upland plots per family. Population growth Population growth can be divided into natural growth and growth due to migration. The natural growth is generally high in the villages, around 3% per annum. In some villages, sufficient data has not been collected. Increase due to migration, or resettlement is in many areas very high, particularly in the North Land Use Certificates TLUC (indicator B2) Short-term Indicator No of farmers received TLUC Long-term Indicator Level of land security (no of conflicts solved with help of TLUC)

16 Page 16 of 57 No of farmers with PLUC or title During the LA process, TLUCs are supposed to be handed out to the farmers as an evidence of "ownership" of their plots of land. It contains a plot map, a land use contract and the certificate itself. After three years, there is supposed to be an evaluation of whether the contract has been followed and if that is the case, an upgrade to permanent land use certificate (PLUC). In the villages of LSFP, there have only been a few cases where TLUCs have not been distributed. It has been produced for every village in LSFP, but in Vangkhanan and Nasey in Lao Ngam, together with the Navene cluster in Sayabouli, certificates were not handed out to the villagers. The reason in Lao Ngam was obviously an unresolved conflict between the villages, also involving staff. In the Navene area the reason must have been uncontrolled immigration of new settlers which made the land ownership situation dynamic. In the optimal situation 3 copies should be made, one for DAFO, one for the village head and one for the farmer. The following table shows some of the LSFP districts plus two Sekong districts and their distribution practices of TLUC. Table 7: TLUC Distribution practices by DAFOs District Copy to DAFO Copy to Nai Ban Copy to land owner Lao Ngam - - X Atsaphone X X X Phalanxay X - X Phin X - X Nan X X X Lamam X X X Thateng X Another issue regarding TLUC is the storage of them. There have been many examples where certificates have been destroyed or become lost. In the village, certificates are likely to be destroyed due to humidity, dust and dirt, unless proper storage precautions are taken. In the office, certificates are lost due to non-systematic storage or that they have been lent to another office. As mentioned earlier and many times before this is a critical issue for land security Disputes (indicator B3) Short-term Indicator No of disputes with other villages No of internal disputes Long-term Indicator No of disputes No of solved disputes Disputes with other villages Before LA there were external conflicts in 82% of the villages. The total number of disputes was 33. After LA, however many conflicts seem to have been solved. Of the 33, only 10 remained. That means that 32% of the villages still had problems after LA. This shows clearly that LA has a conflict resolution effect. It is confirmed by the data from non-la villages where 100% used to have external problems and that 67% still remains. The only exception is Salavane where almost all conflicts remain unsolved.

17 Page 17 of 57 Graph 5: No of conflicts before and after LA Graph 6: External conflicts Disputes inside the village If external conflicts have been solved to a great extent through LA, the internal seems to be more independent of LA. Before LA there were internal problems in 47% of the villages and after LA it has increased to 53%. However the number of disputes has gone down from 41 to 26, so a resolution effect can be seen. In non-la villages there were no such problems at all. It would be reasonable to suggest that LA would solve things like plot boundary disputes and such. That has also been confirmed through group interviews done, where many people report decreased internal problems after LA Access to NTFP (indicator B4) Short-term Indicator No of farmers that collect NTFP compared to before LA Long-term Indicator Presence of NTFP There is a slight increase in the collection of NTFP. From 59% before LA to 63% after. It is only in the North that this has increased, from 55% to 77%, whereas in the South it has decreased from 62% to 50%. This is probably due to the lack of village forests in Salavane. Through group discussions carried out in the northern villages, it has been found that the increase in NTFP is actually an indirect effect from LA. The reason is that forest areas have been set aside for protection and preservation of various types and that has increased the prevalence of NTFP. The most important issue here, however, is that the NTFP activity is directly correlated with access to markets. Improved infrastructure such as roads or trade routes means increased NTFP activity and the other way around. Graph 7: Percentage of people that collects NTFP before and after LA There is one example of an NTFP conflict occurring in Ban no 10 in Luang Phabang. Above the village, on the higher mountain slopes there is a special area not belonging to any village, where NTFP are prevalent. To

18 Page 18 of 57 reach this area and even the upper parts of no 10 village, one has to cross through another village s land, Longleuad. The Longleuad villagers collect a special fee from those accessing that area to collect NTFP, even if it comes from no 10 land. So far no solution has been implemented, but it has been suggested that common rules should be established for this activity Rice production (indicator B5) Short-term Indicator No of sample families that increased their rice production since LA No of sample families with rice deficit Long-term Indicator Yield per ha Upland production The production of upland rice has accordingly also decreased, but the overall difference before and after LA is quite small, 35% increased and 41% decreased production. However, the geographic difference is very distinct. In the North 47% experienced increased hillrice production and only 25% lowered the yield. In the South only 23% increased upland production after LA, whereas 57% decreased. For non-la villages the upland production did not change, which is remarkable because they are all in the South where upland generally decreases. This could mean that LA has had an impact on developing more paddy land. Paddy production Graph 8: Upland production changes The relationship is the other way around for paddy production. There is a slight overall increase, 28% compared to 26% decrease. There is no difference between the North and the South in this aspect. The decrease could be explained by the drought in 1998 when most interviews were made. In the villages without LA, 33% increased paddy production and 17% decreased it. Paddy rice roduction Rice sufficiency (example from 5 villages in the North) Graph 9: Paddy production changes On average in the five villages, people lack rice about 2,5 months a year, or 9,5 months supply, (between 2

19 Page 19 of 57 weeks and 5 months lack). This figure is heavily dependent on whether the farmers have paddy or not. Playing with this information and the land statistics, the following comes out: On average everyone has access to half a plot of paddy and 2,6 plots of upland, which gives around 3 plots in total. Those plots can supply rice for 9,5 months or 3 months per plot. That would mean that an extra plot per family would enable rice security for 12 months. That is also confirmed by the data regarding the wish for more land (1,4 plots per family). Summary of rice production per ha and rice sufficiency per family Table 8: Rice production rates Village Paddy prod/ha Upland prod/ha Rice prod/fam Rice lack/fam Namtap Napoong Huay Yeu Phanip 985 Phongdong No No Koutkene Xienglekhok Nalay Aluay-K Inpaeng Vangkhanan Nasey Workload and Labour situation (indicator B7) Short-term Indicator No of labour per family Division of labour (male / female) Long-term Indicator Possibility to use all land allocated with regards to labour force. The lack of labour problem ranks 15th among 30 classified problems. That means it is a quite important issue. It is one important criteria that staff usually look at when allocating land. If the land claimed is considered too much regarding the available labour force, the amount of allocated land will be less than the amount claimed. In almost all group discussions with women the labour issue has been brought up as a problem. The division of labour is unfair, where women do most of the fieldwork, even if they also have to carry their small children with them. This is particularly true for Lao Theung villages. 3.5 Economic impacts, (indicator C1:C5) It should be said that the assessment of economic impacts has not been prioritised and therefore not a lot of information has been collected regarding economic issues NTFP revenue (indicator C1)

20 Page 20 of 57 Short-term Indicator Total income derived from NTFP in Kip Long-term Indicator Market opportunities (distance, prices, etc.) To little information has been collected about NTFP revenue. Usually NTFPs are collected only for domestic use, but in some areas NTFPs are also sold to contribute to the household economy Timber revenue (indicator C2) Short-term Indicator Total income derived from timber trade Long-term Indicator Market opportunities (distance, transportation, prices, etc.) The same as the above, not much information in this aspect. Villages that are part of JFM in Dong Kapho would have significant earnings from logging Family income (indicator C3) Short-term Indicator No of families with increased or decreased income since LA from different activities Long-term Indicator Economic trend (income curve) In general farmers incomes have decreased since LA. 41% of farmers have higher income and 51% lower after LA. The figures might be misleading because maybe some people sold off livestock before LA and thus gained some money there, or other similar reasons. Anyhow, once again the regional difference is remarkable. It is obvious that the South is better off, with 50% increasing and 36% decreasing their income. The figures for the North are 32% higher income and as much as 65% with decreased income. The improved economy for the South is mainly due to the fine cash crop situation in Lao Ngam, Salavane. In villages without LA there is a 100% decrease in household income. Graph 10: Income changes before and after LA The above data is assembled from individual interviews. During group discussions it has also come out that income has gone down almost everywhere except from Lao Ngam in Salavane where people are involved in a cash-crop economy Fruit and Commercial tree planting (indicator C4) Short-term Indicator No of fruit trees / commercial trees planted since LA Long-term Indicator Level of knowledge on how to manage plantations economically and environmentally sustainable Market opportunities This activity has increased a lot in both parts of the country since LA. 43% of the farmers increased their fruit

21 Page 21 of 57 tree plantations, whereas only 11% decreased. For commercial trees the increase is 27% and the rest unchanged. Commercial trees are long-term investments, which explains why 73% of the farmers have not changed their possessions of it. This trend is the same for the South and the North. In non-la the trend is reverse, 33% increased fruit trees and 67% decreased. Commercial trees are unchanged. This is also seen in the land use changes study made in the North, where especially fruit trees are increasing significantly. Table 9: Percent of total land used for fruit trees Fruit trees Domestic animals (indicator C5) Short-term Indicator No of livestock kept compared to before LA Long-term Indicator Level of knowledge on how to keep animals economically and environmentally sustainable Market opportunities Keeping livestock has decreased overall and for all categories of animals, most notable for pigs and poultry. It is in the South where this decrease has taken place, where for example 61% of the farmers keep fewer pigs after LA and only 19% keep more. In the North 40% keep more pigs and 32% fewer. Buffaloes and cattle basically remain the same. Farmers in the villages with no LA have increased their livestock keeping for all types of animals. The relationship seems to be that when improving economy through introducing cash crops the need to keep livestock decreases and the other way around. In times of economic problems people tend to rely on livestock as safety. 4. Participatory Office-based monitoring 4.1 Staff adoption of LUP/LA "better practices" Indicators have also been developed for staff adoption issues. Information has been gathered using a special questionnaire that contains questions about the LA process, how it is carried out and what is done. This information has been collected from a total of 5 LSFP districts, (Lao Ngam, Atsaphone, Phalanxay, Phin and Nan). The results are grouped according to the indicators Usage of Equipment, Materials and Aids, (indicator 1) Short-term Indicator Which forms are used? Which maps are used? What measurement tools and methods are used? Long-term Indicator Accuracy of plot location No of plot boundary disputes Usage of Forms Out of 15 pre-defined forms (from the official LUP/LA manual), 7 are used by all LSFP districts. Fortunately those are the most important ones. There are only two forms not used by any DAFO, that is population increase form and the monitoring form. The remaining forms are used by some and not used by some. Following table summarises the usage of forms. Table 10: Forms used in LA

22 Page 22 of 57 Forms Used Not used 1. Village Boundary Agreement form Village Boundary Survey record form Village Boundary Dispute Resolution form Village Profile (before doing the LUP and LA exercise) Land Ownership and Land Use Data form Family Socio-economic Data Collection form Data Summary Form (land data and socio-economic data) Population Trend Summary Land Parcel Survey Data Form Temporary Land Use Transfer Form Land Use Contract Form Land Parcel Map Form Forest Use Assessment Forms (for NTFPs) Village Agricultural and Forest Management Agreement Monitoring and Evaluation Questionnaire Forms 0 5 Usage of Materials and Aids The following table summarises the usage: Table 11: Materials used in LA Materials Used Not Used 1. Topographic maps, scale 1:100, Aerial photographs Land Use Sketch Maps for land use zoning with villagers Land Use Maps or Village Maps at scale 1:10,000 or 1:5, Forest Use Assessment Map (NTFP map) Scale conversion tables (distance) Conversion Table, Slope distance to horizontal distance Plastic Overlay Area Calculation Sheets 5 0 LUP/LA equipment and instruments Of the listed equipment and instruments (compass, rope, tape and pantograph) only one district said to not be using measuring tape. Otherwise everything is used Participatory Procedures and Methods (the 8 steps model), (indicator 2) Short-term Indicator Are staff and villagers given training before LUP/LA? Long-term Indicator Villagers commitment to use and manage forests and land properly

23 Page 23 of 57 Is a LUP/LA committee formed and are GoL s policies explained? Are neighbouring villages invited for boundary delineation? (Y/N) Are forest land use zones delineated? (Y/N) Is agricultural land measured? Are agreements and TLUC prepared? Are base maps produced? How many days does the LA activity take? Villagers feeling of engagement in decisions about their land No of land disputes with neighbouring villages Quality of forest zoning for sustainable land use and Distribution of final documents, (indicator 5) Short-term Indicator Have the villagers received the TLUC? Have the village head been given a village land use map? Is there a signpost map in the village? Have the village agreement been produced and distributed to the village and its neighbours? Long-term Indicator Land security for families Disputes within the village or with other villages Awareness about land use zones and rules Training of staff and villagers prior to LA In four of the five districts, training is held for staff about mapping, data collection, measurements, forms, etc. The reason for not training is lack of budget for that. None of the districts train villagers prior to LA, due to: lack of budget, villagers not interested, villagers lack knowledge, not necessary. Formation of Village LUP/LA Committees and their involvement in the process Village LUP/LA committees are always formed before the process. They are given information about the LA process and GoL s policies. Meetings are held with the committee between 5-15 times during the activity depending on the needs. Delineation of Village Boundaries, Land Use Zones and Agricultural Plot Measurement Neighbours are always invited to discuss village boundary delineation. The boundary is always surveyed, using mostly tape and compass, sometimes also maps. If there has been any boundary disputes, records are kept for those that have been solved only. One district reported not keeping any records at all. Sketch maps are drawn in 4 of 5 cases. Land use zones are also delineated in every district, using reconnaissance survey, topo maps and if available aerials. Spare land is usually also set aside. There have though been reports from Lao Ngam that spare land is very scattered and in small pieces, meaning that it is difficult to develop it. Allocated agricultural plots are measured in all districts, with compass and tape. Reference points are also established to help fit the measurements together. Production of Village Agreement and TLUC Village agreements are prepared for every village together with the committee and in three cases also involving villagers. It has been claimed by all DAFO staff that copies are spread to neighbouring villages, but when checking with villagers that is not the case. In only one case a village received a copy from another. TLUC are prepared for all families and the distribution is showed in section about TLUCs in the village based monitoring. LU contracts are also prepared by every district wherein it is stated what land should be used for. The 8 steps model

24 Page 24 of 57 Usually steps 1-6 are undertaken by all districts, extension planning is done by three districts and ME is completely left out. Normally they spend between days for each village Level of Participation, (Indicator 3) Short-term Indicator Which activities involve village women? Which activities involve village men? Which activities involve village committee? Long-term Indicator Villagers commitment to use and manage forests and land properly Villagers feeling of engagement in decisions about their land Committee capacity The following tables show the level of participation of the village committee, village families and village women. It has only been assessed for the southern district of LSFP. Participation of the Village LUP/LA Committee Table 12: Level of participation for village committees DISTRICT Consultations, Decision making, Implementation Consultations, Decision-making Consultations, Implementation Consultations ATSAPHONE - Formation of LUP/LA committee - Agreeing on village boundary - Surveying the village boundary - Survey of reference points - Mapping the village boundary - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Field monitoring of LUP/LA results and impacts - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Village LA meeting - Preparation of forest and agricultural land management agreement - Family problems/needs data collection - Extension/land use demonstration sites PHALANXAY - Formation of LUP/LA committee - Agreeing on village boundary - Mapping the village boundary - Surveying the village boundary - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Confirmation of the village land use map - Field measurement of agricultural land - Field monitoring of LUP/LA results and impacts - Mapping of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Family problems/needs data collection - Identification of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Preparation of forest and agricultural land management agreement - Survey of reference points - Family land use/ownership and

25 Page 25 of 57 land claims data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Village LA meeting - Extension work plan proposals and preparation - Extension/land use demonstration sites PHIN - Formation of LUP/LA committee - Agreeing on village boundary - Mapping the village boundary - Surveying the village boundary - Mapping of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Survey of reference points - Identification of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Preparation of forest and agricultural land management agreement - Village LA meeting - Extension/land use demonstration sites - Extension work plan proposals and preparation - Field measurement of agricultural land - Family problems/needs data collection LAO NGAM - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Agreeing on village boundary - Surveying the village boundary - Survey of reference points - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Formation of LUP/LA committee - Mapping the village boundary - Identification of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Mapping of village forest and agricultural land use zones - Village LA meeting - Preparation of forest and agricultural land management agreement - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Family socioeconomic data collection - Family problems/needs data collection - Field measurement of agricultural land - Confirmation of the village land use map. Participation of Families

26 Page 26 of 57 Table 13: Level of participation for families DISTRICT Consultations, Decision making, Implementation Consultations, Decisionmaking Consultations, Implementation Consultations ATSAPHONE - Surveying the village boundary - Field measurement of agricultural lands - Extension work plan proposals and preparation - Extension/land use demonstration sites - Field monitoring of LUP/LA results and impacts - Agreeing on village boundary - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Family problems/needs data collection - Village LA meeting Confirmation of the village land use map - Survey of reference points - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Mapping the village boundary - Identification of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Mapping of village forest and agricultural LU zones PHALANXAY - Formation of village LUP/LA committee - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Surveying the village boundary - Agreeing on village boundary - Mapping the village boundary - Survey of reference points - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Field monitoring of LUP/LA results and impacts - Family problems/needs data collection - Mapping of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Identification of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Field measurement of agricultural lands - Confirmation of the village land use map - Village LA meeting PHIN - Survey of reference points - Family socioeconomic data collection - Family problems/needs data collection - Preparation of forest and agricultural land management agreement - Formation of village LUP/LA committee - Surveying the village boundary - Agreeing on village boundary - Mapping of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Field measurement of agricultural lands - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Mapping the village boundary - Identification of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Family land use/ownership and

27 Page 27 of 57 - Village LA meeting - Extension work plan proposals and preparation land claims data collection - Extension/land use demonstration sites LAO NGAM - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Surveying the village boundary - Village LA meeting - Confirmation of the village land use map - Formation of village LUP/LA committee - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Agreeing on village boundary - Mapping the village boundary - Survey of reference points - Identification of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection - Mapping of village forest and agricultural LU zones - Family problems/needs data collection - Family socioeconomic data collection - Field measurement of agricultural lands Participation of Women Table 14: Level of participation for women DISTRICT Consultations, Decision making, Implementation Consultations, Decisionmaking Consultations, Implementation Consultations ATSAPHONE - Field measurement of agricultural lands - Extension work plan proposals and preparation (for women) - Village LA meeting - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection (female heads) - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Family socioeconomic data collection (female heads of households) - Family problems/needs data collection (female heads of households) - Confirmation of the village land use map PHALANXAY - Family socioeconomic data - Village LA meeting - Family land use/ownership and

28 Page 28 of 57 collection (female heads of households) - Family problems/needs data collection (female heads of households) - Confirmation of the village land use map land claims data collection (female heads) - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GOL policies, regulations and objectives - Field monitoring of LUP/LA results and impacts PHIN - Family problems/needs data collection - Formation of village LUP/LA committee - Family socioeconomic data collection - Village LA meeting - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection (female heads) - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Field measurement of agricultural lands - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Extension/land use demonstration sites LAO NGAM - Confirmation of the village land use map. - Family land use/ownership and land claims data collection (female heads) - Family socioeconomic data collection - Formation of village LUP/LA committee - Explanation of LUP/LA procedures and methods - Explanation of GoL policies, regulations and objectives - Surveying the village boundary - Agreeing on village boundary - Family problems/needs data collection - Village LA meeting - Field measurement of agricultural lands Collection and Analysis of Data, LA Criteria, (indicator 4) Short-term Indicator What kind of data is collected? Is data summarised? Long-term Indicator Level of equity in land distribution between families

29 Page 29 of 57 Is data analysed and how? Are criteria prepared? Level of land use sustainability Accuracy and quality of LUP/LA work Data Collection The data collected varies between districts and follows the forms used. The table below shows what data is collected and used. Table 15: Data collected during LA Data Collected Used Not collected 1. Village profile data Land use/ownership data Socio-economic data Family problem/needs data Women s problem/needs data Forest assessment (NTFP) data Population trend data The reasons for collecting data are the following: not considered important (problems and population data) never thought of collecting that data (population and village profile data) lack of understanding what to use the data for (population data) no forms available (?) Data Analysis In four of the five districts data is summarised and analysed, for some reason in Atsaphone only simple analysis is made to decide criteria. It is mainly the labour and land claims data that is used to decide LA criteria Monitoring and Evaluation, (indicator 6) Short-term Indicator How many ME visits are made to each village? Which ME methods are used? Long-term Indicator Quality of LUP/LA Awareness about LUP/LA, rules and regulations Villagers involvement in village development and opportunities Two of the DAFOs said they had some type of monitoring activity going on, but then it is mostly for checking if villagers follow the agreement and use their allocated plots the intended way. 4.2 Staff s self-evaluation A special self-evaluation form was developed where district staff assess their own capacities in different

30 Page 30 of 57 aspects. The purpose was to use it as a training needs assessment. Each head of land use planning at the DAFOs was asked to evaluate his staff in several aspects and put ratings: poor, fair, good and very good. The results show that many people consider themselves not adequately trained in many areas. Only a few people were rated as being very good. Most ratings were between fair and poor. Generally people consider themselves good at collecting various types of data, but poor at using it. Mapping techniques is another poor point. Staff Competency Evaluation, a comparison of the results Districts: Atsaphone, Phalanxay. Phin and Lao Ngam Date: August and September 1998 Total No of staff evaluated: 50, (between 9 and 17 per district A = Poor B = Fair C = Good D = Very Good (Numbers are percent of whole staff in each category) Table 16: Staff competency evaluation results Topic Atsaphone Phalanxay Phin Lao Ngam A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D 1. GOL LUP and LA laws policies, regulations and objectives 2. Concept of participatory land use planning and land allocation Sustainable and stable land use The 8 stage Participatory LUP/LA process Formation of village LUP and LA committee Preparation and training of the village LUP and LA committee Village boundary delineation Village boundary survey Village boundary mapping Survey and establishment of reference points on roads and tracks 11. Identification of village forest and agricultural land use zones 12. Mapping of village forest and agricultural land use zones Data collection methods: Family land use/ownership and land claims Family socio-economic data collection Family and village problems/needs data collection Village population growth data collection Data analysis methods: Family land use/ownership data Family socio-economic data Family and village problem/needs data Village population trend data Determining village agricultural land allocation criteria from data analysis

31 Page 31 of Drawing village land use zone map Conducting village land allocation meeting Field measurement of agricultural lands Preparation of Forest and Agricultural Land Management Agreement 20. Preparation of Temporary Land Use Certificate and Contract 21. Preparation of extension work plan from data analysis 22. Establishing land use/soil conservation/conservation farming demonstration sites 23. Field monitoring of LUP and LA results and impacts Information storage An important part of the ME work has been to promote proper storage techniques for various data and information. The LA process produces a lot of information, such as socio-economic and land ownership data, maps and not least, land use contracts and certificates. The land security for the farmers rests on those documents and if they get destroyed or lost, evidence of land ownership is also lost. Therefore it is important to store those documents systematically and properly. It has been seen slack storage routines in many cases, with lost or destroyed documents. A system of storage routines has been proposed by the LUP subprogramme and is available in technical booklet no Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 The LA process The national land allocation programme is implemented in great rush. District staff are having difficulties in keeping up the pace, in order to reach targets set by the government. No time is available for follow-up and monitoring. That means that some conflicts might not be solved before proceeding with LA, or the village situation is not properly assessed. In some cases, (Muang Sing), even the villagers themselves are not involved in the process as would be satisfying, because it is time consuming to explain things to them. For those villagers LA is just a government thing and not of great interest for them. It has been suggested by our subprogramme and also by staff in Luang Namtha province, to do what LSFP has tried in the Katep area of Phou Xang He NBCA and what LUP staff in Sekong are already doing. That is to only do the zoning of land in a village and set up rules for management of those zones. Then the villagers themselves, supported by the LA committee, are responsible for management of individual plots. It has been done with success in remote areas of Lamam district in Sekong. Then after villagers have proven to be capable of managing the zones, maybe after some adjustments of boundaries, individual plots can be allocated. This is more crucial in areas with valuable land, for example the volcanic soils around the Bolaven in the South, along the main roads, or in flat alluvial areas along rivers or close to urban centres. In remote areas with no road access, land does not have the same value and will not be subject for buying or selling to the same extent as in more lucrative areas in the future. Therefore individual plot measurements and allocation is not as critical as in those other areas. It should be understood that LA is an everlasting process, which changes over time with population increase, soil degradation and general development. Therefore it is a step by step activity that must be allowed to take time. Flexibility is a key word. 5.2 Monitoring Monitoring activity

32 Page 32 of 57 It is strongly advised that district staff should undertake monitoring activity by themselves in villages where LUP/LA has been carried out. This will increase the understanding and awareness of the complexity that LA has, depending on different farming systems or village situation. By increasing this knowledge, the district staff can work on improving LUP/LA in the villages to a more stable and sustainable situation, where local needs and problems are taken into account Monitoring methods As mentioned previously, different methods have been tried in the monitoring work. From the usage of questionnaires to open-ended group discussions. It is believed that a mixture of those methods should be used. Questionnaires for obtaining baseline data on for example rice production or land availability and broader discussion forums to assess village problems and needs of different types. It is very important to also involve women in the discussions, to broaden the spectra of opinions. Forms with questions and discussion topics have already been developed and depending on the needs, district staff could pick relevant pieces from them, to help obtain necessary information. PART II - TARGET VILLAGE REPORTS Introduction The following are detailed presentations of the target villages that we have worked in. Not all of them are represented, but the most interesting ones, 6 in total. Three examples are taken from the North, (Hongsa and Xieng Ngeun) and three from the South, (Phalanxay and Lao Ngam). The intent of the reports is to give a picture about the situation in the villages and to present the results from LA and monitoring on village level. Luang Phabang BAN NO 10, XIENG NGEUN DISTRICT Introduction Land allocation was conducted in Ban No 10 by the NOFIP core team together with the district in March Four monitoring visits have been made to the village. The first was made by the core team and the second by the ME team. The third and fourth visit was made by the core team and ME team jointly. Those visits focused on the establishment of a land use plan and the survey on land use changes. Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E M&E Date Mar 1996 May 1998 May 1999 Nov 1999 Mar 2000 Apart from the LUP/LA work, several visits have been made in connection to the establishment of a Land Parcel pilot Register. During that work all land parcel data has been reviewed thoroughly. More information is available in reports that have been produced in connection to the land register activity. A comprehensive monitoring report was also produced following the visit in May Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses Feb / X Jun 99 X X X X

33 Page 33 of 57 There are mainly ethnic Khmu people in the village, (Lao Theung) and few Lao Loum families. The village is located about 15 km West from Xieng Ngeun district centre on the road to Sayabouli. The settlement is located in a narrow valley with quite steep land surrounding it. The Nam Khan stream floats through the valley. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics Land Allocation statistics: Existing old paddy New plots and area Total plots Total Paddy Upland area In Use 20 18,25 ha Claimed 20 18,25 ha 1 1,2 ha 141 Allocated 20 18,25 ha Total plots Total area Plots/family Area/family In Use ,7 Claimed 141 2,4 Allocated ,54 ha 1,9 3,10 ha The "In Use" row indicates permanent land farmed plus upland in use or previously farmed. The "Claimed" row shows 141 plots which are all upland in use or that have been used (in fallow). "Allocated land" does not include paddies. The amount of claimed land is about 45% higher than what was actually allocated. An explanation might be that many of the claimed and previously used plots are located in other village areas, i.e. Ban Longleuad, which is a resettlement village. There have been and still remain tensions regarding the village boundary between those two villages. There are also other resettlement villages in the valley, which has increased land pressure. Therefore the land available to each village has become limited. Other explanations are that land might have been double-claimed, or that people pull back their claims at the time of land allocation. But it is a clear trend in many villages to be cautious when allocating land thus limiting the areas of land to be allocated. The special survey on land use changes made in March 2000 shows similar results, that land accessibility has decreased since LA. The following table shows results from that survey, (10 people were interviewed). Upland possessions Before LA 54 plots 5,4 per family After LA, allocated 23 plots 2,3 per family After LA, used 27 plots 2,7 per family This shows that the accessibility to land has shrunk significantly. LA has reduced the accessibility to land with more than 50% in this village. During LA, 7 people got the same amount of upland as they claimed and three families got less. It is a wellknown fact that people do not claim all the land that they use. There are several reasons for that. One is fear of taxes, people try to avoid tax paying by not claiming the land. The other reason is that the idea and policy of reducing shifting cultivation, has made the implementing staff to limit the number of plots that a farmer can get allocated, to around 3 plots per family. Therefore it is no use in claiming more than that, since it will be refused anyway.

34 Page 34 of 57 Monitoring results Two monitoring visits have been made to the village, as shown above. The first used questionnaires for families and village committee as basis for monitoring. In the second visit, discussion topics were used for three different groups, men, women and committee. Land Management Aspects Managing land within the village meets few problems, people follow the rules even though they do not like them. Some people have used non-allocated land and they have been fined. What is a big problem are the taxation rules, which the villagers dislike. They are forced to pay tax on all their plots, also the ones not used. This is why some people simply refuse tax and chose to not claim their land instead. Even if they run the risk of being fined, they rather take that risk instead of paying tax. However when looking at statistics from the village it shows that tax is paid on 172 plots whereas there are only 102 upland plots allocated plus a few permanent plots. This means that tax actually is paid on non-allocated upland plots and then why do not villagers claim that land? This needs further investigation. Another management problem is the boundary disputes mentioned in a later section. Forest fires have intruded from neighbouring villages. Land availability, accessibility Land has been more evenly distributed between families after LA. Before some families had a lot, while others had almost nothing. Because forests are being protected the amount of NTFP has increased. Agricultural land availability is very limited. New families have difficulties in finding land because all good land is already claimed. The best quality land is forested so land available for agriculture is of no good quality. Agriculture and Forestry status/ Water supply Land pressure is high, thus decreased productivity of the land. The soil is losing quality because of over usage. A lot of rice plants have died due to "high soil temperature", resulting in rice deficit. It is difficult to find good quality land because such land is now protection forest. Rice production has gone down, due to the above and the limited upland areas available. Existing upland fields have also been changed from rice into cash crops. Forests are better preserved now, which has resulted in increased prevalence of NTFP. Rice production rates (annual) Yield/ha paddy Yield/ha upland Production/family Deficit/family 2167 kg 986 kg 1096 kg 747 kg These figures are using the areas of paddy and upland that villagers mentioned in the socio-economic data collection, which differs from the figures given for the land claims data collection. If that data is used the figures would be 1277 kg/ha for paddy. Livestock/Fishery, Tree planting There is a wish to increase livestock but they lack funds, knowledge and also suitable grazing land for it. They have previously experienced problems with animal diseases. Economic aspects In average income has decreased since LA, but not for fruit trees, teak and poultry where income has gone up. They could make more money but that would mean to break the village agreement. A reason for the general down turn of the household economy is the decreased agricultural production. Land is more limited now and the land is being over-used or improperly used. There are ideas on how to improve the economy, like introducing more livestock, plant pineapple or bananas and trees, but they can t afford to buy animals or seedlings.

35 Page 35 of 57 A sign towards more market-oriented cropping is that hillrice cultivation has been changed into Job s tear and paper mulberry cultivation. However problems are storage of seeds and transportation to markets. Gender and other social issues Women s situation has got better, they participate in more activities now and they have got their own organisation defending their interests. That organisation has helped to increase friendship among the female community. Women are also more involved in decision making processes now, however not to a satisfactory extent. For example they would like to have more influence in land use issues, what land to use, what crops to grow and in the general village development process. These are issues that men normally decide. They must have the right to discuss with their men on these matters, because women have in many cases more knowledge and experience about land use. A specific problem that some women have is that they have to agree with their men, even though they are obviously wrong. Friendship between villages has been hurt seriously due to increased competition over land. This is mainly due to the resettlement program that the GoL runs. During the nineties many villages have been moved down to the Nam Khan valley. One of the results of this has been numerous inter-village disputes. Land Use or Boundary conflicts, Violations against the agreement There is at least one boundary conflict with Ban Longleuad along the western boundary. The area has been disputed ever since LA. The land used to belong to No. 10 but after resettling Longleuad, that land was allocated to them in 1995 and a boundary drawn which No. 10 are dissatisfied with. No. 10 villagers suggested the boundary be moved towards Longleuad, but the district decided the boundary should stay where it is. Similar problems have also occurred along the eastern boundary with No. 7. Within the village there are no disputes. Some villagers were reported to use land not allocated to them. That land was "hidden" during LA, due to the tax fear. Those villagers have been fined. Villagers comments on land allocation According to the women, many people are not interested in LA and thus do not understand it. Negative impacts on land have become limited in terms of destruction of forest areas. The village agreement clearly states what land that can be used and what land to protect. Clearing of new land has stopped. Another thing is that land is more evenly distributed after LA. Previously some families had a lot of land and others had almost nothing. Positive things are thus that land now is clearly demarcated and that there are clear rules on land use zones. Individual plots are also clearer, preventing uncertainty and disputes between neighbours. Problems reported back to DAFO and responding actions: Problems or issues recorded Suggested solutions Action taken by DAFO or relevant body May 98 1) There are three No 10 families that have conflicts with families from neighbouring villages, regarding land use. Other villagers claim the right to their land which actually belongs to No 10. 2) Six families from No 7 intruded and use land for shifting cultivation in No 10. 3) Two families have got land overlapping each other which led to a conflict when clearing the land. 4) Three people cut trees illegally for Form is missing May 99 1) Solved, the district allowed outside villagers to land in No 10. Small pieces of about 0,5 ha per family 2) Solved, this has stopped now and the families were fined Kip per family. 3) Solved, Mr Kham forgot where his land and cleared his neighbour s land. The village committee solved the dispute. 4) Solved, those people were fined Kip per family.

36 Page 36 of 57 selling purpose. This was reported to the district committee. 5) Conflict between Mr Bounthong and Mr Somsanith from Ban Longleuad. Land was allocated to Bounthong but Somsanith claimed he bought the land from Mrs Nya. 6) Six teachers and two policemen claimed land for using. 7) Six families have not got rights to use land, even though it has been allocated to them. May 99 1) Some people have misunderstood the purpose of LUP/LA. 2) Some people do not follow the rules stipulated in the village agreement. 3) There is a boundary conflict with Longleuad, due to land competition. 4) Forest fire from another village swept in on No 10 s land. 5) Some people need more land. 6) They need funds for animal farm, pineapple and banana planting. 7) Livestock struck by diseases. 8) People do not know how to improve the soil. 9) Village women would like training on weaving and textiles. 10) Women need access to a clinic or a nurse. 11) Women would like to go on a study tour to learn about different agricultural models. 1) A seminar should be held on the topic LUP/LA, that clearly explains it. 2) Try and make people aware of the agreement and repeat it with farmers. 3) The boundary problem should be clarified with both villages. 4) Learn about how to control and protect forest fires. 5) Land should be allocated to people that need more land. 6) Extension activities focusing on livestock should be carried out. Funds should be given for banana and pineapple seedlings. 7) Advice should be given how to protect animals from diseases. 8) A demonstration showing how to improve soil should be done. 9) A teacher that can teach about textiles and weaving should be brought to the village. 10) They could use the facilities in Ban 7. 11) They villagers should be given the opportunity to go on a study tour. 5) Solved, Mr Somsanith has always supported Mrs Nya, which Bounthong has never done, so DAFO said Somsanith could keep the land. 6) Solved, there will be land allocated to them, according to a plan made out. 7) Solved, previously their land was considered not suitable because its proximity to the road, but now DAFO and the committee allow usage of that land. Nov 99 Yet to be done The DAFO has put good efforts in solving village problems, which is admirable considering the scope of work they carry out. One might presume that similar problems occur in many of the other villages as well. Sayabouli BAN NAMTAP, HONGSA DISTRICT Introduction Land allocation was carried out in late 1995 in Namtap. This was one of the first villages to be carried out by

37 Page 37 of 57 staff from LSFP. Central staff from NOFIP and DoF and Hongsa district staff participated. Since then four follow-up visits have been made. The first ME visit was made by the core team during the first ME exercise ever. The second and third were monitoring visits made by the ME team and the fourth was part of the land use changes study. Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E M&E Date Nov 1995 May 1998 Jun 1999 Dec 1999 May 2000 Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses Nov / Jun 99 The village is inhabited by the Khmu ethnic group, (Lao Theung). The village is located about 12 km Northeast from Hongsa district centre along a dirt road leading to the Mekong river. The settlement is located in a narrow valley surrounded by forested hills. Along the valley floor there are some paddy fields, of which some are irrigated. It is bordered by 5 villages: Ban Thanun and Huay Lay to the East, Ban Kiosala to the West, Ban Kengen to the North and Ban Thaen to the South. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics This was together with some other villages the first ones to be allocated in Hongsa. Unfortunately no individual data is available, however a summary of all socioeconomic data has been made. Furthermore there are no information of land claims. Land Allocation statistics: Total plots Total area Plots/family Area/family In Use Claimed Allocated ,27 ha 2,13 1,85 ha Allocated area per family 1,85 ha is under the average for LSFP target villages (2,6 ha), but a lot of reserve land has been set aside (as much as 852 ha or 14 ha per fam.). Part of that is already used for upland cultivation. The problem is that land is very steep and located in high elevations, which means that land is drier.

38 Page 38 of 57 People would rather use lowland closer to the village but that has already been developed as paddy land or set aside as stream protection forest. Nevertheless land availability is still good and the total population density is around 9 ha per person which is relatively high. Land use changes study These results are based on interviews with 12 farmers in Namtap. Upland possessions Before LA 34 plots 3,4 per family After LA, allocated 17 plots 1,7 per family After LA, used 24 plots 2,4 per family Also here it is evident that LA has limited the access to land, 50% of previous access. It should though be noted that many of the families also have paddy now, or will develop paddy this year. Everyone got what they claimed, during land allocation. 4 people would like more land to use. A total of 6 plots were wished for in addition, (1,5 per family). That would mean 3 plots per family. The reasons for wanting more land were: Small areas of land, need bigger areas for more rice production Maintain rotation Give land to children in big families Land types The total village area is approximately 3500 ha of which around 2500 ha are different forest lands (conservation 800 ha, protection 1250 ha and village use 450 ha). Total allocated agricultural land is about 150 ha of which 37 ha are paddy or land suitable for paddy. That leaves, as mentioned 850 ha of reserve land. Problem census at the time of LA (1995) 1) Upland crop pests, wild pigs, rats and birds (44 fam) 2) Paddy rice seeds do not fill out (27 fam) 3) Irrigation water is insufficient (21 fam) 4) Harvesting forest products is difficult (12 fam) 5) Lack of knowledge on paper mulberry planting (12 fam) Of those problems no 2 and 3 was mentioned still being a problem during last visit (June 99) and to a lesser extent no 1. It seems like extension inputs on paper mulberry planting have had results. Monitoring results Two monitoring visits have been made to the village, as shown above. The first used questionnaires for families and village committee as basis for monitoring. In the second visit, discussion topics were used for

39 Page 39 of 57 three different groups, men, women and committee. Land Management Aspects Many people do not understand LA. It has restricted their possibilities to use land as they want. People know that the rules are there but cannot understand why. But there seems to be few concrete land management problems. Land availability, accessibility Land is sufficient, but some newcomers have no land and other people would need more land. The spare land available is enough to supply those with new land and new allocations will be made for those. Some people said they did not properly understand LA and thus did not claim as much land as they would need. Agriculture and Forestry status / Water supply The forest lands are kept well and there have been no intrusions. There are problems with the water supply to their paddy areas. The water level in the stream is low, mainly due to clearing of land upstream in the watershed area in Ban Kiosala. It is therefore difficult to develop new paddies. In some cases people changed to plant fruit trees or pineapple on the intended paddy land. Some people face difficulties in using land because the land is poor and they lack knowledge on how to use land in a sustainable way, for example what to change rice with the third year. Grass is invading new fields so they would need education on how to improve soils. The irrigation weir is not working well, water does not reach all paddy land. Rice production rates (annual) Yield/ha paddy Yield/ha upland Production/family Deficit/family Livestock/Fishery, Tree planting There is more livestock kept since LA, but sometimes it is struck by diseases. Economic aspects The household economy has not changed much since LA. Some people have got it better and some worse. Gender related and other social issues Women have got more opportunities and increased right regarding work compared to previously, however they do have little or no control over money and valuables. The workload is also hard for women. Some men do not participate in household work and give all the orders at home. Land Use or Boundary conflicts, Violations against the agreement There were no conflicts reported during last visit, apart from the one with Kiosala, where villagers use land in the upper watershed areas that has decreased the water level in the stream. Other problems mentioned was that when elephants pull logs out of the forests they destroy footpaths, paddies and also the riverbanks. Villagers comments on land allocation Land allocation is good because it prevents forest destruction, but many people do not properly understand why all the new rules are necessary. Problems reported back to DAFO and responding actions Problems or issues recorded Suggested solutions Action taken by DAFO or relevant body May 98 Jun 99

40 Page 40 of 57 1) Five families use land not allocated 2) Four families had to clear land because they had not enough upland 3) One family wanted to return land, because the paddy land is enough 4) Conflict with Ban Thaen because they cleared land along the village boundary, in the water catchment for their irrigation scheme. 5) One man steals and begs and does not use land. 1) Solved, the district and village cooperated to find new land for those. 2) Solved, first the district wanted to fine them, but since they had no money they were educated instead. 3) Solved, he left the land which he thought he needed during LA. 4) Solved through discussions. 5) Cannot solve this. Jun 99 1) Lack of water for rice paddies. 1-19) The DAFO staff should discuss with concerned institutions to solve the problems 2) People only use some plots. 3) Some families do not want to use their land. 4) Some families want to use more land. 5) New families have no land. 6) There is o lot of high, steep land. People rather use lowland. 7) Some families have internal problems, such as lack of money, food, too many children. 8) Some plantations were destroyed. 9) Insects destroy plants. 10) The village weir is not functioning well. 11) People do not know methods for upland cultivation. 12) Some people do not understand land allocation. Land is not good and there are erosion problems. 13) Lack of labour. 14) Some people need more paddy land. 15) Some people have lowland but no access to irrigation. 16) Conflict with B. Thaen and B. Kiosala, because they clear land, which decreased the water level in the stream. 17) Women work harder than men 18) In some families men give all the orders and they do not help with household work.

41 Page 41 of 57 19) Logging is a problem because when pulling the logs out, land get destroyed Comments There are no serious problems in this village. May be people would need more education on land allocation because many people have not understood it. Another thing mentioned frequently was the lack of water to irrigate paddies with. The climate also seems to fluctuate, with some years drought and some years floods, which makes agriculture difficult. BAN NAPOONG, HONGSA DISTRICT Introduction Land allocation was conducted in Ban Napoong by the NOFIP core team together with the district in Feb Four monitoring visits have been made to the village, the first by the NOFIP core team and the rest by the M&E team as follows: Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E M&E Date Feb 1996 May 1998 Jun 1999 Dec 2000 May 2000 Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses Feb / X Jun 99 X X X X There are four ethnic groups in the village: Lao Loum, Khmu (Lao Theung), Hmong and Yao (Lao Sung). The village is located 9 km East from Hongsa district centre on the road to Sayabouli. The settlement is located on a relatively flat valley floor with paddy areas and is surrounded by forested hills. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics This was one of the first villages carried out in Hongsa, which meant there were not much experience at that time. Data was not analysed that much so most allocations were made according to villagers will only. Therefore the district staff have mentioned that they are not very satisfied with land allocation in the village and that there are needs of improvements. Land Allocation statistics: Existing old paddy New plots and area Total plots Total Paddy Upland area In Use 40 23,43 ha 47 13,60 ha 91 58,27 ha ,31 Claimed 40 23,43 ha 47 13,60 ha 91 58,27 ha ,31 Allocated 40 23,43 ha 34 22,40 ha ha ,18 Paddy Upland Total

42 Page 42 of 57 Land per family 1,3 0,82 ha 1,8 0,81 ha 3,1 1,6 ha According to the village agreement the agricultural zone consists of 92,3 ha and there are 268,5 ha of reserve land. Looking at this the land pressure seems not high and that there would be a lot of spare land (almost 5 ha/farm) available for people that need more land or for new families. Total forest area is 1340 ha of which most is protection forest. Chart showing the distribution of land use zones in the village Land use changes study Upland possessions Before LA 41 plots 4,1 per family After LA, allocated 24 plots 2,4 per family After LA, used 24 plots 2,4 per family In this village the amount of land has been reduced to 60% of what was available before LA. However some families, counted the land that they used to have around the old village area, whereas others mentioned their previous Napoong land. 9 people got what they claimed and 1 did not. 6 people (60%) would like more land to use. A total of 13 plots were wished for in addition. (2 per family). That would lead to about 3,5 plots per family. The reasons for claiming more were: Maintain rotation Increase rice production Land is far away New families with no land Land to plant fruit trees Big family, wants to give land to the children Monitoring results Four monitoring visits have been made to the village, as shown above. The first used questionnaires for families and village committee as basis for monitoring. In the second and third visit, discussion topics were used for three different groups, men, women and committee. The fourth visit was part of the land use changes study. Land Management Aspects The villagers have suggested that, for people with claimed land, they should be given the right to use the land before the certificate has been issued. Many people lack awareness of how to use land properly according to land allocation. They simply use land as always and are not interested to change farming system. Land availability, accessibility

43 Page 43 of 57 Land available is enough according to the farmers. Many farmers have returned or sold land to new settlers, because they have enough already. The available agricultural land is also suitable and give good yields. When neighbouring Ban Nambeuang was resettled together with Napoong, it caused a bit of a problem with land pressure because their old land was located too far away. Agriculture and Forestry status / Water supply People lack tools and equipment to work their paddies and there are some families without paddy land. Water supply is not enough for the paddies, so they would like to survey a location for a village weir. The existing one is over-dimensioned and broken and there is no money to fix it. Some paddy land is also very shallow and full of rocks which makes it difficult to work. Their system of paddy rotation has been successful, so has corn and banana intercropping. There seems to be many ideas on what to plant and how. Some people have changed from paddy to fruit garden due to water scarcity. There are complaints that some villagers are not interested in forest protection. They use land as previously. Some areas have been cut for fuel wood collection. The villagers collect fuel wood from a special tree, which is being cut by people from Hongsa district centre. Rice production rates (annual) Yield/ha paddy Yield/ha upland Production/family Deficit/family 3521 kg 1565 kg 1766 kg 178 kg The village has a small rice deficit, but there are formed village groups for paddy and garden development. Livestock/Fishery, Tree planting Since fencing is difficult, there are problems with free roaming cattle that disturb crop planting. They would like to create a separate grazing zone in the village. Economic aspects People perceive their situation as have become better over the past years. That is indicated by better household economy. To continue this good development, agricultural production should continue, forest protection and awareness of land management should increase. This view is shared by men and women. Gender and other social issues The social climate in the village is quite tough, since three different ethnic groups inhabits the village. The committee is working well, but between villagers there are tensions. Especially the resettled Yao families face problems, they would rather go back to their old village and when being ambitious farmers they face jealousy from other groups, which try to destroy for them. The Yao women also have other problems regarding possibilities to participate in meetings and organising themselves because their men will not allow them to. The village has also had some trouble with people stealing crops and tools from each other. The women feel they have too many children, which takes a lot of time. There has been a family planning project, but it has not been very successful since the contraceptive pills have side effects like losing weight and strength. Land Use or Boundary conflicts, Violations against the agreement Villagers from Kionio and Nangleuang have cleared land along the Padong stream. Land has also been cleared for fuel wood collection. Otherwise there are no serious violations apart from some people using nonallocated land.

44 Page 44 of 57 Villagers comments on land allocation It was said that people in general lack knowledge and interest about land allocation but most people follow the rules anyway. Problems reported back to DAFO and responding actions Problems or issues recorded Suggested solutions Action taken by DAFO or relevant body May 98 1) Some families want to return upland because they have sufficient paddy land already. Mr Khiane left one paddy plot and two upland plots. Mr Xiengkhoun left land due to lack of labour. Mr Xiengmay have enough paddy land so he left his upland plots. Form is missing 1) Most of these issues have been solved by the DAFO and village committee jointly. However there are constantly new cases like this, where people leave land, change land, swap land and so on. 2) This problem cannot be solved. 2) 19 Yao families were resettled in Napoong. They clear forest for shifting cultivation along Oud stream, which affected the irrigation so that water does not reach the paddies. Jun 99 1) Land is used as previously, old methods 1-20) The DAFO staff should discuss with concerned institutions to solve the problems 2) People cut fuel wood from other peoples land. 3) There are problems with livestock that destroy rice, so that some people do not have enough rice. 4) Paddy development is difficult because the water supply is scarce. 5) Some families do not do agricultural work. 6) There are problems having 3 ethnic groups in the same village, because they have all different habits and customs. 7) Some people trade land. 8) Other villages come to clear land along the Padong stream for agricultural use. 9) They would like to change rules on how to manage livestock. 10) Some families want to change land use, to grow other things. 11) One person cut trees when it is dark outside, so that no one could discover him. 12) Need clean drinking water. 13) Rich people have more opportunities

45 Page 45 of 57 to use their land than poor people. 14) They want to improve their irrigation system, because it is not working. 15) One man claim that he graze cattle, as a protext for clearing the land. 16) Some people buy land illegally, without the committee knowing. 17) Families have too many children, the contraceptive pill have side effects like loosing weight and strength. 18) New families have no rice paddies. Comments The interesting feature about this village is its ethnic composition, which have caused problems due to their different habits and customs. The new settlers have had problems finding land, so some of them have cleared forest land for use. Other people have bought land. It is important to follow-up the social situation caused by the resettlement. Savannakhet BAN XIENGLEKHOK, PHALANXAY DISTRICT Introduction Ban Xienglekhok is a target village of the LSFP. Land allocation was carried out in February 1997 by the NOFIP core team in co-operation with DAFO staff from Phalanxay, neighbouring DAFOs, staff from Phou Xang He NBCA and from Sepon training centre. Three monitoring visits have been made to the village by the NOFIP core team and the M&E team as follows: Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E Date Feb 1997 Aug 1997 Aug 1998 Jan 2000 Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses Dec Dec Dec Feb / Aug /

46 Page 46 of 57 The ethnic group is Katay (Lao Theung). Graph showing population development The village is situated about 15 km Northeast from Phalanxay district centre and share borders with 8 other villages. Dong Kapho state production forest occupies part of the village. The soils are poor with low production rates. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics Land Allocation statistics: Total plots Total area Plots/family Area/family In Use 42 40,09 ha 1,11 1,06 ha Claimed 71 82,08 ha 1,87 2,16 ha Allocated ,57 ha 1,68 2,67 ha Land types Of the village s total area of 2742 ha, about 7% is protected forest areas and 80% is production or village use forest. This leaves 6% (104 ha) for existing paddy and land for paddy development (62 ha) and another 6% reserve land (166 ha). Of the 104 ha of existing allocated paddy fields, 40 ha is allocated to Nalay villagers. Furthermore 24 ha of land for paddy development is allocated to Ban Nalay. Agricultural land allocation criteria Based on figures from rice production as follows: actual prod/ha paddy: 723 kg expected improved production capacity of 1000 kg/ha and the rice need of about 2000 kg/family, an average of 2 ha should be allocated to each family. The final result was 2,67 ha/family which would meet the requirements. Monitoring results Since land allocation in Feb 1997, two monitoring visits have been carried out. The first one in Aug 1997 was part of an integrated village planning exercise, where the questionnaires were tried. The second one also used questionnaires as basis for monitoring. The last visit was done in free discussion form with the village committee. Land management aspects The village LUP/LA committee seems to be able to manage the agreement and the villagers follow it. Land availability, accessibility, land pressure

47 Page 47 of 57 The population is quite small but the population increase is quite high (4-6% annually). Still there is enough land to sustain the community. Land productivity is low so each family needs a lot of land, so the limiting factor is not land but labour force. All of the interviewed families have said that they have no problem accessing all types of land, including village use forest and agricultural land. Agriculture and Forestry status Rice production is generally low in the village. One reason is last years drought and that the soils are poor. The villagers want to overcome this dependency on good precipitation by constructing a weir in Xiengle stream, but there is a lack of money to do this. If they had access to irrigated land it would also be possible to cultivate commercial crops. Forests are being preserved since land allocation, no or very few violations have been reported. Rice production rates (annual) Yield/ha paddy Yield/ha upland Production/family Deficit/family 650 kg 568 kg 686 kg 1310 kg Livestock/Fishery, tree planting There is a slight trend of increasing livestock and tree planting. NTFP It was said during land allocation that NTFP are not enough to supply the villagers, however they have unlimited access in the village use forest and in Dong Kapho forest. During the monitoring visit, it was said that LA has not had an impact on villagers possibilities to collect NTFP. Economic aspects Compared to other target villagers, the income is very low. At the time of land allocation averaging Kip/family and year. Money is mostly derived from livestock and NTFP and it has increased since LA. The village earns money from a contract with a timber company (JFM). The benefits from that have been the construction of a school, a water well and signboards. Land use or boundary conflicts Before LA there were some disputes with other villagers, but it was negotiated and solved during LA. Since the no disputes have occurred. Problems reported back to DAFO and responding actions Problems recorded Suggested solutions Action taken by DAFO or relevant body Aug 97 1) 6 farmers opened up new paddy in the grazing area, which he does not want to change 2) Outsiders have been observed gathering and removing bamboo without permission 3) Villagers get paid when reporting violations against the agreement 1) Those 6 families will be allocated that land, with total responsibility to protect it from livestock 3) The DAFO should check the government s official percentage for reporting violations and then include this in the village agreement 4) This should be given immediate attention by DAFO

48 Page 48 of 57 4) None of the transfer and land use contracts have been signed by the district authorities Aug 98 1) One new family, Mr That claimed land. 2) One family, Mr Aeh, practised shifting cultivation in the village use forest, even though he has land allocated to him. 3) One family, Mrs Sidah, wants to leave two plots in Huay Tumphong because she lacks labour. It is old paddy land and newly claimed land. 4) Some people cut trees between Xienglekhok and Nalay illegally. 5) A deer was shot. 6) Proposal of a new weir in Huay Xiengle. 7) They need a nurse or doctor. 8) Proposal of a study tour to other villages to get ideas to develop their own village. Dec 98 1) Solved, he will get Mrs Sidah s abandoned land 2) Not solved 3) Solved, the land goes to Mr That 4) They were fined Kip 5) Solved, one responsible person was fined 6) Nothing done 7) Not solved 8) Nothing done 9) Unclear circumstances around this deed 9) An elephant was found shot in PXH NBCA Jan ) 3 new families have land that has not been allocated yet. 2) Villagers in Nalay-Noi should be registered in Xienglekhok, since it is much closer and they use land in Xiengle. 3) Suggestion that DAFO should check that everyone is using their allocated land. 1) This land should be measured and allocated to those families. 2) Check this possibility with villagers involved. 3) DAFO should pay regular visits to the villages. Comments Information gathered so far in the village is not adequate enough to draw conclusion on impacts, so more inputs are needed. Initially it seems that land management is not much of a problem here. It is more the low productivity and the health situation that are the concerns. The villagers have emphasised the need of medical care as one of the most important issues. Salavane BAN INPAENG, LAO NGAM DISTRICT Introduction Ban Inpaeng is a target village of the LSFP. Land allocation was conducted by the NOFIP core team together

49 Page 49 of 57 with the district in May Three monitoring visits have been made to the village by the NOFIP core team and the M&E team as follows: Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E Date May 1996 Aug 1997 Sep 1998 June 1999 Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses Oct / May / Sep / June / The ethnic group is Souay (Lao Theung). Graph showing population development The village is located 17 km from Lao Ngam district centre on relatively flat land with good soils. The area is very suitable for cash crops such as coffee and bananas. Road connections are good. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics Nearly all land within the village boundary had been developed into agricultural land, so almost no reserve land is available. There were at the time of land allocation families without any land in Inpaeng, those used land in other villages and that is still the case. One problem with LA is that land was not measured properly, which meant that some plots overlap or that the locations of the plots are not clear. This is still a problem which has been brought up as an issue in every monitoring visit. Land Allocation statistics: Out of 78 families, 71 (?) were allocated land in Inpaeng, there were 7 (?) families without any land. In average each family contains 5,25 people. Total plots Total area Plots/family Area/family In Use ha ha Claimed ha ha

50 Page 50 of 57 Allocated ha ha The "per family" column uses families with land as calculation basis Of the claimed 2,53 ha, 2,03 ha is food/annual crop land. The total village area is approximately 292 ha of which 180 ha were claimed for agriculture. Another 50 ha are stream protection forest, cemetery, roads and settlement. That leaves about 62 ha for reserve land. The majority of that land was probably used already at the time of allocation. The land produces around 90% of the total rice needs in the village. Since the possibility to produce cash crops and the proximity to markets is very good, the extra rice needed could be bought without problems. Problem census (women May-96): 1. Families have a lot of land but not enough labour. 2. Families that migrated from other areas lack agricultural land. 3. Families have unused fallow lands. 4. Land is not enough for agriculture. 5. Village animals destroy agricultural crops. Monitoring results Three monitoring visits have been made to the village, as shown above. The first two, questionnaires for families and village committee were used as basis for monitoring. In the third visit, discussion topics were used for three different groups, men, women and committee. Land Management Agreements and Land Use Certificates Every family with allocated land has got a TLUC and a contract. It was issued in only one copy which means that DAFO do not have any certificates. However there have been new allocations made for which TLUCs have not been issued yet. The women s group said they needed certificates on new allocations. Land management aspects Since land was not measured properly during LA, or not measured at all, there is a problem with unclear plot boundaries and where the different land use zones are located. The villagers want DAFO staff to come and remeasure the unclear parts and to help them mark plot boundaries with trees. They want to make clear exactly where all land is in order to improve land management. Land availability, accessibility There is not sufficient land in the village, nearly all land is used for agriculture and people that need more land have to buy from neighbouring villages or rent land from others. The reserve land that possibly still exists is very scattered and consists of small pieces. It is also difficult to locate. The villagers have suggested the DAFO staff to come and check all land that is used and the reserve land. Agriculture and Forestry status During LUP/LA advice was given on how to improve soil quality. It was done through planting vegetables. Furthermore advice was given on how to fix free air nitrogen in order to improve cultivation. The problem with this was that it also increased weeds and grass to an uncontrollable extent so they do not practise this anymore. The rice production has been stable the last couple of years, but upland rice has been reduced in favour for gardens (coffee, bananas). Generally the people have expressed that there are few problems with agriculture in the area since the soil is so good, they could grow anything. One problem observed during last visit was worms and termites that eat the rice seedlings. Rice production rates (annual)

51 Page 51 of 57 Yield/ha paddy Yield/ha upland Production/family Deficit/family 0 kg 2041 kg 1618 kg 197 kg Livestock/Fishery, tree planting Livestock is kept as before land allocation, but has never been a dominant activity. The amount of animals has, however, decreased due to diseases and lack of grazing land and time. There is also a problem with animals from neighbouring villages, (Ban Bounteup), that come and disturb the rice plantations. The committee has expressed a wish to develop cattle farming, poultry and fishponds. There is a wish to increase fruit tree plantations but it is difficult to find land for it. But there is a clear trend towards planting more trees, mostly bananas and teak. Some farmers have contracts with a company that subsidies teak seedlings and then by the full-grown timber back. NTFP The NTFP activity has not changed much. There are virtually no natural NTFPs available, it is being planted (mostly cardamom) on semi-cleared fallow land. Economic aspects In general the household economy has grown much better in recent years, this is also the opinion of the villagers. They sell more cash crops now (mostly coffee and bananas) which is a good source of income. Also commercial tree planting has increased a lot (teak). Gender issues It was said that in some families the husband orders the wife to work very hard. The women complained about bad health due to hard work. One woman was forced to move to Inpaeng from her old village, because when her husband died the committee took the land back from her. Now she and many other women complain about the difficulty in finding land in Inpaeng. Land Use or boundary conflicts, violations against the agreement Every family with one exception use land allocated to them, that family did not claim any land during LA. During last visit it was said that not only one family does this but quite a few. The reason is that they did not claim all their land, which they now use, because they did not want to pay tax (4000 Kip/ha). There have never been any violations reported against the village agreement. Every family was said to follow the rules stated in the agreement. (Apart from those using land not claimed). One woman reported that villagers from Ban Bounteup have intruded, step by step, into the fallow land, now approximately a 10 m wide strip. Villagers comments on land allocation The most significant advantage with LA is that they now have certificates that tell them where their land is located, which prevents disputes. They feel free to plant any crops because they have security in the land, no one can intrude on someone else s land. The negative aspect is that it was not properly done, all land was not measured and the reserve land is difficult to both locate and to use, because it consists of small pieces. Problems reported back to DAFO and responding actions Problems recorded Suggested solutions Action taken by DAFO or relevant body Aug 97 1) People from a family planning 1) Nothing done, just planning.

52 Page 52 of 57 1) Population increases. Last 15 months, (since LA), there are 31 more persons. They estimate that in 3-5 years time there will be a lack of land, because there is no reserve land available. 2) Mr Oandii cleared land for agricultural purpose, against the agreement. He did not follow land allocation. He said the land was given to him by relatives, so he had to use it. That land was not allocated nor measured. 3) Most of the villagers want to develop their economy by growing cash crops. This has not been successful yet, because they lack knowledge and technology to do it, so they need extension services and marketing of their products. Sep 98 1) There is a lack of land due to population increase. 2) Agricultural land is scattered and consists of small pieces Jun 99 project, should come and give the villagers training about birth control and also stimulate the villagers to improve agriculture. 2) The district LUP/LA committee should be involved to help and solve the problem for Mr Oandii as far as required. The agreement should be used as reference, but also his land needs and the land s suitability should be considered. 3) Agricultural officers with knowledge on how to plant crops, should be sent to the village so that they can exchange knowledge and be given training. Soil data should be studied in order to find suitable crops for that area. 1) There should be advice given to the villagers on how to calculate population growth data. 2) The LUP/LA committee should check the reserve land. 2) Probably solved, because the problem did not appear in later visits. 3) Obviously something has happened because the villagers claim they are successful now. 1) Nothing done, a birth control program is planned for but has not been implemented yet. 2) Nothing done 1. Plot boundaries are not clear. 2. Reserve is difficult to locate. 3. Some use land improperly, not according to allocations. They use land which was not claimed. Problems should be considered by DAFO and solutions should be made as required. A follow-up on this will be done later this year. 4. The farmers want to develop livestock and fishery and they want to plant dry season crops (vegetables) 5. In some families the husband gives orders for the woman to work hard. 6. Some did not claim land because they fear tax paying. 7. Someone borrowed someone else s land or they buy land. 8. Insufficient land, they need more. Some families have no land. 9. Domestic animals suffer from diseases and they lack grazing land. 10. Some have stolen other people's land, without permission, and cleared it. 11. Other villages animals come to disturb the crops.

53 Page 53 of Conflict following competition of land. People from another village came to use allocated land in Inpaeng. 13. Newcomers have no land. 14. They lack labour. 15. Insufficient rice. 16. Worms and termites eat rice. 17. Need re-measurement of agricultural land. Comments As was predicted during the first monitoring visit, that the population increase would cause problems as increasing the pressure on land and make land a scarce commodity, seem to have happened. In 1996 people said that land was enough but the lack of labour was the problem. In 1999, the majority of people discussed with, mentioned this as a problem. It was most evident among the women, where almost everyone brought up the lack of land as the most significant problem. Another issue is the economical development. During the first monitoring visit in 1997 it was said that the concentration on growing cash crops had not shown any results yet. In 1999 the success is evident, the household economy is much stronger now due to the increased selling of cash crops. The need of clarifying plot boundaries and land use zones through re-measurements was brought up by every group in the village. It is an important matter and a big concern among the villagers. This shows that they are interested in LUP/LA and that they care about it. A problem is that district staff does not recognise this as a problem or maybe do not understand the villagers concern. However, with the coming land registration input, all these things need to be sorted out. Finally it should be said that Ban Inpaeng is relatively well off and suffers from minor problems compared to other target villages. The monitoring needs here are not so great as in other places, where problems are more prevalent. BAN VANGKHANAN, LAO NGAM DISTRICT Introduction Ban Vangkhanan is a target village of the LSFP. Land allocation was carried out in May 1997 by the NOFIP core team in co-operation with DAFO staff from Lao Ngam. Two monitoring visits have been made to the village by the NOFIP core team and the M&E team as follows: Activity LUP/LA M&E M&E M&E Date May 1997 Sep 1998 June 1999 Feb 2000 Population figures: Population Male/Female Families Houses May / Sep / June 99

54 Page 54 of 57 The ethnic group is Souay (Lao Theung). Graph showing population development The village is located 28 km from Lao Ngam district centre on the road to Khong Sedon. It is bordering Ba Chiang district of Champasak province and Khong Sedon district of Salavane province. Vangkhanan is neighbouring three villages, Na-om to the West, Nasey to the North and east and Songhong Noi to the South. The land is relatively flat with good soils. Road connections are good. Land Allocation data analysis, statistics The total village area is around 598 ha. Approximately 60% of that or 343 ha were under cultivation at the time of LA. The rest is conservation forest, stream buffer zone, village use forest and village area, including roads and cemetery. Vangkhanan farmers also use land outside the village area. In Ban Na-om, Ban Nasey and Ban Songhong Noi, a total of 45 plots are being used with an area of 44,14 ha. At the time of land allocation there were people using land in the conservation forest (20 plots, 26,88 ha). Those people were allocated the same amount of land in the agricultural zone. Land allocation has not been completed properly in the village. Certificates were not distributed until last monitoring visit in June 99 and there is no signpost map or land use map available in the village. Land Allocation statistics: Total plots Total area Plots/family Area/family In Use ,3 ha 1,8 1,55 ha Claimed ,0 ha 2,0 1,36 ha Measured? ,3 ha 1,9 3,65 ha Allocated? Information differs from different sources, i.e. PJ:s notebooks and the land claims forms. It has not been possible to find out if all land measured was in fact allocated. Monitoring results Two monitoring visits have been made to the village, as shown above. During the first, questionnaires for families and village committee were used as basis for monitoring. During the second visit, discussion topics were used for three different groups, men, women and committee. Land management aspects Village Land Use Agreement and Land Use Certificates