Shifting Cultivation of the Kho-mu in Relation to Land Resource Protection

Abstract

The author shows that since the 1993 Land Law has launched, there are some changes in shifting cultivation development in mountainous areas. Like other ethnic groups, the Kho-mu people in Co Chai village were no longer free to slash and burn the forests and expand the burnt-over land. However, the local people have had no breakthrough in changing the crop structures and seeking new jobs. Their major livelihoods are still based mainly on the swidden agricultural production that is normally uncertain, while the existence of the shifting cultivation has likely led to soil degradation. The fact proves that it is crucial to have a special policy for the agricultural expansion in the uplands by transforming the burnt-over land into the wet-rice fields that help the local people have a more stable life and practise intensive farming and one crop-growing fields.