Can Paper Mulberry Contribute to Building Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Northern Laos?

Abstract

Most ethnic minority villages in northern Lao PDR continue to rely on non-timber forestproducts (NTFPs) for much of their subsistence and cash economy. Paper mulberry(Broussonetia papyrifera) is an important NTFP in many parts of northern Laos, providingopportunities for earning cash income, particularly for women. Since the plant has beensuccessfully domesticated by local people, it has also been widely proposed as the basis fora sustainable agroforestry system. The major objectives of this article are to investigatethe production, processing and marketing system of paper mulberry and to assess itspotential to contribute to building sustainable rural livelihoods in northern Lao PDR. Wealso elucidate how this perennial plant has been affected by recent government policies, changes in resource management-from gathering to domestication- and current landuse transitions, drawing on a case study from Pha Oudom district, Bokeo province, northern Laos. Whether a sustainable production and supply-chain management systemfor paper mulberry can be developed that provides a reliable -albeit modest- source ofincome for many ethnic minority villagers in northern Laos will largely depend on thecapacity of local producers to enhance product quality and to become more active andequal actors in the value chain, but most of all on the political will of the Lao governmentto rethink its controversial agriculture and forest policies that aim at reducing agriculturaldiversity and restrict access to NTFPs through resettlement of formerly forest-dependentcommunities.