Lao PDR - Rural life - Slash and burn

Fallow fields, slash and burn landscape, Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR. Slash and burn cultivation or ‘hai’ in Lao PDR consists of cutting the natural vegetation, leaving it to dry and then burning it for temporary cropping of the land, the ash acting as a natural fertiliser. To rebuild the soil fertility after growing crops on a shifting cultivation plot, farmers ‘abandon’ that plot and allow vegetation to regrow for a number of years. This is called the ‘fallow period’. In the meantime, they grow crops on other new plots. Shifting cultivation practices, although remarkably sustainable and adapted to their environment in the past, have come under increasing stress in recent decades and are now starting to be a major problem in Lao PDR, causing widespread deforestation and watershed degradation.

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Filename: 20-02_1_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 3162x3162 / 2.0MB; Asia Lao PDR Laos. Lao PDR Southeast Southeast Asia countryside ethnic ethnic minority minorities minority remote rural slash and burn landscape slash burn swidden hai cultivation hill hilly hills mountainous rice food production shifting environment deforestation watershed degradation farm field fallow fields crop crops
Contained in galleries: Tessa Bunney - All pics, Lao PDR - Rural Life

Fallow fields, slash and burn landscape, Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR. Slash and burn cultivation or ‘hai’ in Lao PDR consists of cutting the natural vegetation, leaving it to dry and then burning it for temporary cropping of the land, the ash acting as a natural fertiliser. To rebuild the soil fertility after growing crops on a shifting cultivation plot, farmers ‘abandon’ that plot and allow vegetation to regrow for a number of years. This is called the ‘fallow period’. In the meantime, they grow crops on other new plots. Shifting cultivation practices, although remarkably sustainable and adapted to their environment in the past, have come under increasing stress in recent decades and are now starting to be a major problem in Lao PDR, causing widespread deforestation and watershed degradation.