Survey on and evaluation of real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation in the Central Highlands provinces

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1 Page 1 of 9 Survey on and evaluation of real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation in the Central Highlands provinces Do Dinh Sam, Pham Dinh Tam, Nguyen Trong Khoi I. Introduction Central Highlands is a region with high potentiality in industrial crops and forestry development. Central Highlands is a region of largest forest in the whole country. The forest here represents about 30% total forest in the whole country. Many big rivers originate from the Central Highlands and run down to Central Vietnam, Eastern South Vietnam and this is an important factor that ensures ecological balance for socio economic development in the region as well as in the whole country. But from the liberation of South Vietnam now natural forest in the Central Highlands has been quickly diminished. Mean annual loss of forest was about 25,000-27,000ha, the highest loss of forest as compared with other regions in the whole country. One of the important factors is forest destruction by the ethnic minorities for slash-and-burn cultivation-their long standing tradition in cultivation. The population of the Central Highlands is about 1,081,088; the number of ethnic minority households is 191,267 with about 32.3% of the population in the whole region. Most of them live on slash and burn cultivation. This cultivation system does not bring about a life free from want and care to the people while it does destroy valuable forest resources of the Central Highlands. Prompted by that situation the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development has approved a project: Survey on and evaluation of real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation system and its effects on the natural forest protection in the Central Highlands aimed at recommending socio-technical approaches to restrict slash-and-burn cultivation in contribution to forest protection and rehabilitation in the Central Highlands. II. Objectives, content and method of the survey 2.1/ Objectives: Grasping the real situation of slash-and-burn cultivation in the Central Highlands aimed at working out strategies to restrict the slash-and-burn cultivation in contribution to forest protection and rehabilitation. Identifying the affect of slash-and-burn cultivation system on the degradation and loss of natural forest hence recommendations are made on socio-technical approaches for forest rehabilitation and stabilization of the life of the communities living in the forest and near-by. 2.2/ Content: Survey on real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation and present cultivation systems in main s inhabited by ethnic minorities in four provinces in the Central Highlands. Survey on household economy Survey on and evaluation of forest rehabilitation after slash-and-burn cultivation. Survey on the implementation of policies relating to slash-and-burn cultivation and forest protection. 2.3/ Surveying method: Inheriting the now available documents, maps concerning the Central Highlands so far compiled RRA and PRA methods are used to evaluate the people s cultivation habits, characteristics of household economy and the implementation of policies in various localities. Typifying method is used to select the targets to be surveyed and the survey scale. Application of linear survey method for demarcation of slash-and-burn cultivation s distribution in the field and computer MAPINFOR program is used to calculate various types of. Application of method of establishing representative sampling plots of 500m2 for surveying forest regeneration and rehabilitation after slash-and-burn cultivation. Mean income per capita is calculated as rice equivalent. Classification of households based on standards stipulated by the Ministry of labour, War invalids and Social affairs.

2 Page 2 of 9 III. Results of the Project implementation 3.1/ General evaluation of socio-economic features of the project 3.1.1/ Potentiality Central Highlands is an economic region of strong position in the land; mean land per capita is 1.87 ha, much higher than that of the whole country (0.46/ha/person). Central Highlands is a region of largest natural forest and highest timber stocking as compared with the whole country. Communication system in the Central Highlands is very convenient / Restrictions: Central Highlands has up to 37 ethnic minorities representing about 1/3 of the whole population in the region; people s cultural standard is low. Population growth rate ranks among the highest ones in the whole country (3.5%/year) of which natural population growth rate is about 2% the remaining is mechanical growth rate. This exerts pressure on natural resources, forests are severely destroyed causing ill-effects on ecological environment. 3.2/ Real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation 3.2.1/ Present land-use in the project The project has carried out general survey in 4 provinces, 8 districts and careful survey was conducted in 16 s, representative of 8 ethnic groups of largest population in the Central Highlands provinces.

3 Page 3 of 9 Table 1: Present land-use situation Total Forest land Agricultural land Other land Localities natural land Area % of Area % of Area % (ha) total (ha) Total (ha) total (ha) *Kontum Dak Roong 02 Dak Mon Dak Ha Ngoc Tu * Gia Lai IAPhi IAM Nong Kroong To Tuny *Dak Lak EaMarsh EATul Dak Ha Quang Son *Lam Dong Da Sar Commune 14 Da Tong 15 Phi Lieng 16 Loc Bac The distribution of natural land among the 4 provinces varies rather greatly. Mean land per capita in the whole region is 1.44 ha, in Kon Tum it is 3.82 ha, Gia Lai 1.79 ha, Dak lak 1.18 ha and it is lowest in Lam Dong: 0.97 ha. Forest land represents rather high ratio in total natural land, mean figure in the whole regions is 68.27%; in Kontum it is the highest (89.85%), in Gia Lai it is the lowest (53.26%). Agricultural land represents a low ratio (15.6%). Results of survey in 16 representative s show natural land s possessed by different s vary 10 times to the utmost. The ratio of various land types is the same: Forest land represents over 50%, agricultural land 14.13%. Besides, almost all s do have an of waste land representing about 32% of the land capital of the / Land-use structure of agricultural land in the s in the project

4 Page 4 of 9 Table 2: Land use structure of agricultural land in the studied s TT Localities Total land Rice and other food crops Area (ha) % of total Mean 16,19 41,64 32,57 9,60 It can be seen that in provinces in the Central Highlands there are 4 main types of agricultural land use: cultivation of water-rice and food crops, slash-and-burn cultivation, planting of perennial industrial crops; in some s nearby the roads and townships, the people s cultural standard is high, there are in addition some garden s for fruit trees and vegetables. As regards water-rice and food crops: Almost all s under these crops are distributed in the flat land, below 5 o in slope degree with good soil and adequate water retention capacity (at least in rainy season). The ratio between rice and food crop s varies from 0.14% to 45.82%, mean 16.19% of the agricultural land. As regards slash-and-burn cultivation This is the main type of land use by the ethnic minorities. The under slash-and-burn cultivation represents mean 41.64% of the agricultural land, nearly 2.5 times the under rice and food crops. Results of the survey also show that the ratio of slash-and-burn cultivation in s of the Northern Central Highlands is higher than that in s of Southern Central Highlands, the difference is 2.3 times. Almost all the s with large of slash-and-burn cultivation are those of large land capital, especially forest land, lying in distant and remote s with backward cultivation methods and slow in changing of crops structure. As regards industrial crops Main industrial crop is coffee. Mean of industrial crops in the 16 studied s is 32.57%. The s of Dak Lak province have the highest ratio of under industrial crops (47.07% of the agricultural land) and those of Kon Tum provinces have the lowest ratio of land under industrial crops (16.7% of the agricultural land) / Real conditions of slash-and-burn cultivation in the studied region 1/ Area of land under slash-and-burn cultivation Slash-andburn cultivation Area (ha) % of total Rerennial industrial crops Area % of total Other crops Area 1 Kroong 1087,1 260, ,96 69,27 73,24 6, (ha) % of total 2 T Tung ,77 761,3 60, ,7 18,19 3 Ia phý ,5 12,3 438,5 25, , M'Nong ,07 454,0 38, , Ngäc Tô 554,5 87,5 15, , , ¾c Hµ ,6 3,3 319,4 91,0 20 5, ¾c Kroong 8 ¾c M«n 9 ¾c M roh ,5 25,9 407,5 61, , ,40 132,5 18,29 360,5 49,77 231,4 31, ,5 1005,5 20, ,5 49,58 832,8 17,29 589,7 12,25 10 ¾c Tul 3920,0 5,50 0,14 56,5 1, ,5 70, ,5 28,25 11 ¾c Hµ 564, ,0 53,50 262,5 46, Qu ng S n 1247, ,5 57,94 524,5 42, D¹ Sa 696, ,82 160,8 23,10 173,6 24,94 42,8 6,15 14 ¹ T«ng 971,50 306,8 31,58 23,8 2,45 372,7 38,36 268,2 27,61 15 Phi liªng 1975,4 38,7 1, ,44 886,5 44,88 903,27 45,72 16 Léc B¾c 545,2 73 1,39 35,5 6,51 436,7 80,10 0 0

5 Page 5 of 9 The whole Central High lands region presently has 198,245 ha of land under slash-and-burn cultivation of which Kontum, Gialai, Daklak and Lamdong have 18,923 ha, 49,650 ha, 87,704ha and 42,939ha respectively. There is in addition about 400,000ha for rotational cultivation thus total for slash-andburn cultivation is approximately 600,000ha Synthesis made of the data from field survey in 16 s shows that mean under slash-andburn cultivation per household is ha and per capita is ha. lower than mean figures: ha/person in the whole country in the , ha/person in Central Highlands, ha/person in the North West. The ratio of land under slash-and-burn cultivation in the s in the provinces of Northern Central Highlands is higher than that in the s in the Southern Central Highlands provinces. In the former it is about 60% and in the later it is 28.6%. 2/ Changes of under slash-and-burn cultivation Through the sources of data collected it is found that in the recent 10 years the under slash-and-burn cultivation in the Central Highlands provinces still tends to increase gradually. Data from actual survey in some representative districts and s show that in some recent years, the under slash-and-burn cultivation tends not to increase or unremarkedly increase Table 3: Changes of slash-and-burn cultivation in some studied districts and s No Localities Area under slash-and-burn cultivation (ha) Decrease or increase (ha) as compared with K.Bang district 7.371, , , ,21-22,99 (Gia Lai) 2 Dakglei district 2.653, , , ,62-571,78 (Kon Tum) 3 CuMgar district (Daklak) 1 Knong 1.001, 1.210, , ,4 + 27,4 2 TSTusy , ,3-288,7 3 Dak Klong 235,5 228,0 215,5 211, - 24,5 4 Dak Mon 185,0 197, ,0 + 18,0 5 Da Sa 271,6 260,0 260,0 260,8-10,80 3/ Some features of the slash-and-burn cultivation Cycle of slash-and-burn cultivation: cultivation period is short, fallowing period is long. Previously the fallowing period was usually years, recently it is almost only 3-5 years and tends to be shortened gradually and in some places even no fallowing is practised. Slash-and-burn cultivation system: mainly slash-and-burn pricking holes-dropping of seed-weeding and harvesting. Production tools are utterly rudimentary. Only Gia Rai people in Chu Pah, Ba na people in Kbang and Chau Ma, Co ho people in Lac Duong district can practise ploughing and harrowing. Some ethnic minorities now do practise rotational cropping: cassava is planted in infertile land after 1-2 rice or maize crops such as Xe Dang, Gie Trieng in Kontum or mixed planting of bean, peanut with maize such as E de in CuMgar. Productivity of main planted crops in slash-and-burn cultivation plots: it is higher than that in provinces in North Vietnam. Almost all ethnic minorities however still practise extensive production, little use is made of new crop varieties. Survey in 16 s shows that only 5/16 of the s (representing 31%) has made use of new crop varieties in production. Productivity of new crop varieties is times that of the local varieties. 3.3/ Results of survey on characteristics of household economy 3.3.1/ Income structure Income sources are from mainly from rice and food crops industrial crops, animal husbandry, socialallowances and others such as services, forest career. Mean income from various sources: water rice cultivation: 14.66%; slash-and-burn cultivation: 25.53%; industrial crops: 33.37%, animal husbandry: 6.02% and others: 19.37%. Thus income from industrial crops and slash-and-burn cultivation at present represents high percentage in total income in the s (approximately 60%). Northern Central Highlands and Southern Central Highlands have different income structures. Income in Northern Central Highlands mainly comes from water-rice cultivation and slash-and-burn cultivation (67.68%) of which income from slash-and-burn cultivation represents highest ratio in total income

6 Page 6 of 9 (45.23%). Income in Southern Central Highlands mainly comes from industrial crops (58.30%), the ratio of income from slash-and-burn cultivation represents only less than 10% of the total income. Practically the income from animal husbandry represents a very low ratio in total income (6.02%). Income from slash-and-burn cultivation represents only a small ratio in total income of the s while the land under slash-and-burn cultivation presently represents a rather high ratio in agricultural land capital / Income-expenditure balance Through survey on 8 representative ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, calculation can be made of levels of expenditure for the necessities of a household as follows: -Everyday meals: 55% -Utensils: 9% -Materials for worship: 7% -Various contributions: 10% -Others: 19% Through calculation of income and expenditure in the households of 16 s it is found that 37.5% of the s have the income in excess of the expenditure. Eatul, EaMdrol (Daklak) and Iaphi (Gia Lai) s have the greatest excess and they all have high income from fixed cultivation s. 43.7% of the s have expenditure in excess of income and half of them are in Northern Central Highlands and they are s with highest ratio of income from slash-and-burn cultivation. This proves that the practice of slash-and-burn cultivation presently does not bring about high efficiency. Table 4: Income-expenditure balance in the studied s (d/month/person) Communes Total income (production cost denuded) Total expenditure Balance Kroong ,155 T Tung ,119 Ia M'N«ng ,041 Ia PhÝ ,883 Ngok Tô ,709 k Hµ ,386 k Kroong ,578 k M«n ,526 Ea M'droh Ea Tul k Ha Qu ng S n ¹ Sar ¹ T«ng Phi Liªng Léc B¾c / Classification of households according to income source Poor households represents mean 46.3%, average households: 32.78%, rather well-to-do households 20.91%. K roong is the of highest ratio of poor households (86.14%), poor households in Ngoc Tu and Dak Ha s represents 64.78% and 73.96% respectively. Two provinces of Northern Central Highlands (Gia Lai, Kon Tum) have higher ratio of poor households 55.76% than 2 provinces of Southern Central Highlands while the ratio of average and rather well-to-do is lower than that in the whole region and that of the two Southern Central Highlands / Income structure of various household categories The group of poor households has highest ratio of income from slash-and-burn cultivation (over 50%) next come water rice, industrial crops. With rich households, most of the income comes from industrial crops, water rice and food crops; slash-and-burn cultivation brings about very low ratio in total income. Thus slash-and-

7 Page 7 of 9 burn cultivation can not bring about a life free from want and care for the ethnic minority people. 3.4/ Capability of forest rehabilitation after slash-and-burn cultivation 3.4.1/ Some features of the change of forest status in the project 1/ period: In this period the forested to in the Central Highlands decreased 325,600ha. Forest cover decreased from 67% (1976) down 61.1% (1990). 2/ period: From 1991 to 1996 the forested in the whole region decreased 126,400 ha equivalent to 3.84%. 3/ period: Latest data of forest statistics of the Central Highlands provinces show that in 3 years the loss of forest is about 24,476 ha, each year the loss is 8,158.6ha. The rate of forest loss much decreases as compared with the period / Some main causes of diminished forest Due to population pressure: As compared with 1975 the population increase is 2.3 million in the Central Highlands of which natural population growth is 1 million. 1.3 million is mechanical population growth. Planned population migration : 143,068 households 710,277 persons Uncontrolled population migration: 126,434 households 591,370 persons Due to forest destruction for slash-and-burn cultivation: Slash -and-burn cultivation is still the threat number 1 to the loss of natural forest. Forest clearing and burning; land trading, transferring and encroachment for industrial crops planting are also causes leading to decreased natural forest. Another cause is the abused forest exploitation causing forest deterioration leading to land devoid of forest / Forest regeneration after slash-and-burn cultivation Capability of forest regeneration after slash-and-burn cultivation: Through survey and study in 500m2 sample plots of various forest types mentioned above in 16 s it is found that after 1-year fallowing the vegetation is already restored with cover over 50% and after 8 years if no clearing and burning is practised the vegetation cover can be 85% and in some places, 95%. Especially in slash-and-burn cultivation planted with green bean with land lying waste 8-9 months annually, the restored vegetation also attains the cover of 40%. Through data from survey it is also found that after the fallowing in 3 years or more the regeneration of the desired species attains 1500 trees/ha the cover of regenerated timber species over 3m in height is 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 after the fallowing in 3-5 years, over 5 years and over 8 years respectively. Thus the results from survey show that after fallowing in over 5 years thin forest can be obtained and if the protection is ensured the cover can further increase. Recommended measures for forest rehabilitation -For the forest to be rehabilitated the least fallowing duration must be 5 years. -Where the fallowing is practised less than 5 years, there should be forest planting. -Where fallowing is intended more than 5 years there can be applied forest reserve and tending technique to promote forest regeneration. 3.5/ Results of survey on policies 3.5.1/ Some policies and projects relating to forest protection In the there had been many policies and projects deployed in the 16 s of the surveyed region. These policies and projects were all aimed at hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, stabilizing the people s life in the mountainous and rural s, forest and ecological environment protection.

8 Page 8 of 9 As regards allocation of forest land on contract: of the 16 s surveyed 12 s have carried out the policy on allocation of forest land on contract and the allocated land was 46,182 ha representing 26.07% of total forest land. As regards fixed cultivation and sedentarization After 22 years implementing the fixed cultivation and sedentarization policy, the life of 125,973 households 778,510 persons-in the Central Highlands has been rather stabilized (representing 71.08% of the population) but there are still 55,294 households-302,578 persons that do not yet have really stabilized life and production. These mainly live in remote, distant and border s and are subjected to practising fixed cultivation and sedentarization. As regards hunger eradication and poverty alleviation policy. The whole Central Highlands presently has 155,983 poor households (representing 24.06%) of which 52,861 households (8.15%) suffer from hunger and 113,114 households suffer from poverty. The implementation of hunger eradication and poverty alleviation programme has resulted in gradual reduction of hunger and poverty in the Central Highlands. In the two years hunger and poverty households reduced 8-10% / Situation of policies implementation The development and implementation of State policies and projects have been still of an imposing nature with little people s participation and discussion therefore some were of weak feasibility and others met with many difficulties in implementation and were not effective. The projects developed were not all-sided and lacked concentration therefore were less effective. Many projects were seriously formal, their content was poorly paid attention to. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 4.1/ Conclusions Presently in the Central Highlands the under slash-and-burn cultivation still represents mean 40-50% of agricultural land. This cultivation practice does not bring about the weathiness for the people but it still constitutes important income sources ensuring food supply on the spot and the people s daily life. Therefore in s inhabited by the ethnic minorities, slash-and-burn cultivation can not be entirely abolished now, especially in remote and distant s. 2/ There are in the central Highlands at present about ha being under slash-and-burn cultivation and about 400,000ha under fallowing; mean ha/household, ha per capita. Compared with other regions in the whole country, Central Highlands still has largest land under slash-and-burn cultivation. 3/ Real situation of slash-and-burn cultivation in the Central Highlands has prominent features such as prolonged cultivation periods, fallowing period is gradually shortened leading to quick degradation of the soil, hardly to be restored; cultural standard of the ethnic minority people is too low restricting the application of sloping agricultural land technique. 4/ The life of the ethnic minority communities in the Central Highlands is still met with many difficulties, the ratio of people suffering from hunger and poverty represents 46.4% on the average, rather well-to-do households represents only 20.8%. The s that have highest ratio of hunger and poverty households are also those that have highest ratio of land under slash-and-burn cultivation thus slash-and-burn cultivation is no longer appropriate both as regards food supply, improvement of people s life as well as ecological environment protection. 5/ Mean income structure per capita is as follows: 14.6% from water rice, 26.58% from slash-and-burn cultivation, 33.37% from industrial crops, 6.02% from animal husbandry and 19.37% from other sources. Thus slash-and-burn cultivation still plays an important role as an income source of the ethnic minority people. 6/ The fallowing time exerts marked effects on the regeneration and rehabilitation of the forest vegetation. After 5 year fallowing, forest can be restored, the cover of the regeneration layer can be over 0.3. Therefore there must be applied intensive management measures, multiple crops, prolonging the cultivation period of slashand-burn cultivation so that the fallowing lasts enough time for good forest rehabilitation. 7/ Many policies that have been introduced in the Central Highlands provinces and have exerted positive affects on restricting slash-and-burn cultivation, reducing hunger and poverty, protecting and rehabilitating natural forest. 4.2/ Recommendations

9 Page 9 of 9 1/ Land use planning Land use planning must be made down to level, clearly demarcating the boundary of various soil types in view of objectives in use especially forest land and agricultural land to curb the encroachment upon natural forest. Long term planning of industrial crops and for free-will population migration to restrict forest destruction and illegal occupation of land. Planning of temporary slash-and-burn cultivation based on respect for habits, customs and urgent need in food of the ethnic minority people, step by step limiting and gradually reducing the under slash-and-burn cultivation. Carrying out forest and forest land allocation down to households with plans for use of forest land together with technical guidance so that the people can use the land in keeping with the prescribed purposes. 2/ As regards mechanism and policies Priority must be given to investment project on development of remote, distant regions and regions with special difficulties. Priority needs be focussed on hunger and poverty households and special attention must be paid to solving the problem of food supply on the spot to the people thus limiting forest destruction for slash-and-burn cultivation reducing the pressure on natural forest. Integrated management and conduct of economic development programmes and projects in the same, ecological zone to bring into full play the efficiency of the projects. There must be policy on adequate allowances for scientific and technical personnel engaging in agricultural and forest extension, science and technology transfer to the people, especially in s inhabited by ethnic minority people. 3/ The work of agricultural and forest extension and science and technology transfer: Establishing an agricultural and forest extension network down to or inter- level to assist the people in production and economic development. Mobilizing the people in using new crop varieties to increase crops productivity diminishing the cultivated. Establishment of demonstration models on crops planting and animal husbandry as guidance to the people. Transfer of processing technology on medium and small scale at hamlet and village levels and ensuring the outlet of products to encourage the production in the direction of commodities production. References 1/ Centre for Natural Resources and Environment-Forest Inventory and Planning Institute. Results of the survey on forest loss due to slash-and-burn cultivation, period. 2/ Pham Duc Lan. Report on interpretation, analysis and evaluation of changes in forest resources in the Central Highlands, period. 3/ Tran An Phong and collaborators. Evaluation of soils and analysis of cultivation systems for recommendations on rational land use on ecological standpoint, in view of sustainable development of the Central Highlands. 4/ Tran Trung Dung. Evaluation of present conditions of the slash-and-burn cultivation in Buon Me Thuat highland and recommendations on rational land use in slash-and-burn cultivation, / Tran Van Con and collaborators. Scientific research report on typical features of slash-and-burn cultivation systems and the participation of the Bana ethnic people in the use, management and protection of natural forest in Gia Lai province, / Vu Long. Results of establishing social forestry models in the Central Highlands, 1995 Back to list of reports