An Akha Ya-er woman and her daughter from Ban Houay Phod, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR collect crustaceans from under the rocks with a net in the Nam Pa river (a tributary of the Nam Ou) in Pak Nam Noi. For families living away from the main roads and markets, food caught or collected from the wild, especially edible plants and small animals still make up fifty per cent of their diet. Nature’s bounty in providing for the Lao may be plentiful, but this does not mean that the task of growing and finding enough food for family subsistence and maintenance is easy. It is a major preoccupation of rural families and takes the bulk of time and energy of every man, woman and child.
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