Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture: A Case Study from Northern Laos

Abstract

This paper is a case study of the decline of water buffalo husbandry under the pressure ofland use change in contemporary northern Laos. Since 2000, with the spread of marketorientedagriculture and the implementation of land use zoning, fallow areas suitable forgrazing have been squeezed leading to a conflict between grazers and cultivators. Localgovernment has prohibited the former from allowing their livestock to graze freely in theareas designated for commercial agriculture, encouraging them to establish fixed pastureareas. These grazing lands have experienced a number of problems stemming from thedifficulty of implementing co-management, and after several trials many of the grazerssold off their water buffaloes to traders. This is compounded by another incentive thatpushes them to sell off their buffaloes: the development of buffalo meat distributionmechanisms. The demand for meat has risen steadily in densely populated areas wheremany the new migrants from rural areas have started to show a tendency to purchasefoods such as buffalo meat. Commercial dealings in water buffaloes seem to have hit theirpeak around 2005. However, after the peak, the boom has been on the decline due to thenumber of water buffaloes falling sharply in rural areas leading to difficulty for villagersto continue to graze water buffaloes in both traditional and innovative ways.