Food Security in Natoum Village (Muong Kham District) and Din Dam Village (Nong Hed District), Xiang Khouang Province, Lao PDR

Abstract

Based on a research framework reflecting on the importance fluences of natural, human, social, financial and physical capitals linked to food security, the authors describe the current situation of food shortage among Thai and Khmu, and their strategies of coping with the food shortage. According to the authors, most of the Thai could ensure their household food security, while the Khmu were chronically food insecure and therefore had to sell their labor to acquire food. Although the two ethnic groups lived in different ecological conditions and have different market access, in the authors’ view, the human capital crucially made a difference of food security between the two communities. The Khmu were not deficient in cultivated land, and lived near the main road and the Vietnam-Lao border market, but they were still underdeveloped and self-sufficient. The reason for this was that they were low-educational level and unknowledgeable about the market economy.