Lao PDR - Rural life - Slash and burn cultivation

After drying on the upland field for several days, an Akha Cherpia ethnic minority woman threshes the rice sheaves with a wooden threshing tool to remove the grain before carrying back to the village in sacks. Swidden cultivation or ‘hai’ in Lao 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. 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: A0019868cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x3000 / 1.8MB; Southeast Asia Southeast Asia Laos Lao PDR Lao PDR Tessa Bunney rural life Phongsaly Phongsali remote countryside environment land landscape mountainous hilly hill hills trees tree forest jungle slash and burn slash burn rice swidden hai crop crops field farm farming subsistence work working glutinous rice food production steep hillside agriculture cultivation degradation deforestation isolated hill tribe farmer upland harvest harvesting farmer Akha Akha Cherpia Cherpia Djepia Chepia traditional ethnic minority minorities ethnic minority hill tribe threshing thresh woman female wooden tool
Contained in galleries: Tessa Bunney - All pics, Lao PDR - Rural Life

After drying on the upland field for several days, an Akha Cherpia ethnic minority woman threshes the rice sheaves with a wooden threshing tool to remove the grain before carrying back to the village in sacks. Swidden cultivation or ‘hai’ in Lao 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. 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.