NTFPs on Nakai Plate.. - TABI

THE USE OF NON TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS
ON THE NAKAI PLATEAU
Report on a short mission from 26/2 to 30/3 1997
prepared for NTEC,
Thakek, Khammouan Province
by:
Joost Foppes
Thongphoune Saypaseuth
Khamsamay Sengkeo
Seng Chantilat
Department of Forestry, P.O.Box 4340, Lao PDR. Tel. 021-222861

PART 1:
SUMMARY
A: Background
This report describes the findings of a short mission (3 weeks) to study the use of Non
Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s) on the Nakai Plateau, Khammouan Province, Lao PDR.
This study is part of a larger study on resettlement options on the Nakai Plateau, which is
undertaken by NTEC, the consortium aiming to construct the Nakai Nam Theun 2
Hydroelectric Power Project.
The terms of reference for the NTFP mission were:
- to identify type and value of NTFP’s currently used by the villagers on the Nakai plateau;
- to identify traditional user boundaries for various NTFP’s, especially in the proposed
resettlement area;
- to identify potential opportunities for the NTFP’s that occur naturally and their sustainable
use and value;
- to identify potential opportunities for improvement in the use of NTFP’s in the resettlement
area.
A team of three staff members of the Department of Forestry, currently working with its
NTFP Project (financed by Lao and Netherlands Governments, assisted by IUCN) were
assigned for this mission. They were assisted by their field advisor in setting up the survey
and in designing the report.
The group used state-of-the-art Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) techniques such as building
rapport, semi-structured interviews with key informants, cross checking, structured group
meetings, participatory group sketch mapping, listing and ranking of NTFP’s, ranking of
income and expenditure, wealth ranking, forest walks, rapid forest inventories and simple
family interview questionnaires, to identify current use of NTFP’s in 5 selected villages on
the Nakai plateau: Khone Ken, Kaoy, Nakai Neua, Sop Phene and Thalang.
B: Main findings
1- interviewed villagers could identify 306 species of NTFP’s: 223 food products and 67 nonfood
products. Among the food products, 50 species of edible leaves, 50 fruit species, 31
mammals, 28 fishes were identified.
2- kisi resin (damar resin from Shorea sp.), fish/frogs, edible rattan shoots (Raphis sp. and
Daemonorops schmidtii), cardamom (Amomum sp.) and wildlife are considered by villagers
to be the most important products from the forest. Food products are more numerous and
considered more important (56%) than non-food products (44%).
3- According to ranking exercises, done with groups of villagers, NTFP’s account for 76 %
of average family income over all five villages surveyed. Livestock sales are the second most
important source of income (16%). Within the NTFP’s, kisi resin (14%), fish (12%),
cardamom (11%) and wildlife (10 %) are the most important products sold.
4- In the same exercise, we used to ask villagers to also rank their main expenditures. Buying
rice (18%), other food (14%), clothes (13%) and medicines (12%) are considered as the main
family expenditures.

5- According to a survey over 100 of 191 individual households, family economies derived
41% of their income from NTFP’s, 32% from livestock sales and 28% from other sources in
1996. They spent 65% of their income on buying rice in 1996. These data differ from the
outcome of the ranking exercise. Group discussions may underestimate the income from
livestock. At any rate NTFP’s are by far the most important source of income in all villages.
6- In a normal year like 1996, of all 191 families living in the 5 villages together, 108
families or 57 % have a positive net income, and 83 families or 43 % had a negative income
or rice shortage. Unprecedented floods destroyed most rice crops in the wet season of 1996,
therefore most families must spend their entire income on buying rice in 1997. Many families
will not be able to find enough money to satisfy their needs in rice, even though they will sell
more livestock and increase their collection of NTFP’s.
7- Income from NTFP’s is higher among wealthy families than among poor families.
However, in poor families NTFP’s are often the only source of income, as they do not have
access to other options such as livestock raising, salaries or trading (see table A).
Table A: Average family income for 1996 among all 191 families in 5 villages on the
Nakai Plateau, divided into four income groups.
Income group Richest Medium Poor Poorest TOTAL
No families 48 60 41 42 191
NTFP's 99,740 107,555 60,461 70,487 82,926
Livestock 152,220 41,500 73,462 3,900 64,914
Off-farm 164,000 23,667 37,667 4,000 56,199
GROSSVALUE 415,960 172,722 171,590 78,387 204,038
Rice* -10,939 -30,936 -232,712 -294,634 -133,519
NET VALUE 405,021 141,786 -60,273 -246,464 70,519
*) Amount of money needed to buy rice (negative values) or surplus rice sold (positive values), based on a
calculation of surpluses after family consumption, calculated as 300 kg/head/year.
This finding has important implications for the planning of all income generating and social
activities in the resettlement scheme. Poor families are the most vulnerable when access to
NTFP’s is going to be reduced by the inundation of the former collection areas by the
reservoir. Development agencies working with these families may want to develop special
measures to counterbalance such losses.
8- From the survey, kisi resin comes forward as the most important NTFP for income
generation, going up from 28% of NTFP based family income in 1996 to 56% of average
family income in 1997 (see table B). Curiously rattan shoots have come up to second place in
1997, replacing bong bark which has been greatly reduced. Rattan canes have all but
disappeared, cardamom remains stable. Most of these products are sold through Takhek, the
Provincial capital, except for rattan canes which are mainly exported to Vietnam via Laksao.
9- Villagers estimate that 60 % of NTFP’s are collected from streams, ponds, paddy fields,
grass fields, and fallow fields, which are not strictly forest areas. These areas are likely to be
mostly situated within the inundation zone. Only 25 % was said to be derived from evergreen
forest and mountains. Only 16 % of all NTFP’s are said to be derived from the proposed
resettlement area, called “pa kok” by villagers. It is also remarkable that little difference in
opinion was found between groups of men and women on this issue.

10- We found that villagers are able to identify forest blocks and main products collected per
block. Villagers group estimates of yield potential for all blocks were too variable to be
useful. However the delineation of forest use blocks seems to have a great potential for future
participatory forest management.
Table B:
Estimated income from NTFP’s in 5 villages on the Nakai plateau.
Product 7 x f Total Value 5 villages Av. Value per household
(values in kip) 1996 1997 1996 1997
kisi 0U-u du[ 4,684,367 13,079,661 23,658 66,059
rattan shoots [6jo}lko 326,606 5,071,125 1,650 25,612
cardamom \kdc|' du[ 2,196,294 1,834,933 11,092 9,267
bong [q' 3,919,132 1,632,600 19,794 8,245
wildlife lafxjk 77,857 1,024,800 393 5,176
others* 1,991,014 721,333 10,056 3,643
rattan canes s;kpm6o 3,224,000 55,175 16,283 279
TOTAL ]kpIa[ma's,qf 16,419,271 23,419,628 82,926 118,281
*) others include various fish species sold, eaglewood (Aquilaria crassna), and wild cinnamom, “chouang” bark
(Cinnamom sp.)
11- The harvesting of all wildlife, rattan canes (Calamus sp.), eaglewood (Aquilaria crassna)
and ‘hak tin houng’ (Helminthostachys zeylanica) are particularly destructive and should be
terminated. Harvesting of kisi resin is mainly threatened by logging of the commercially
interesting wood of Parashorea spp. This logging should be limited. Harvesting of bong bark
has been very intensive lately, but this tree can coppice from roots and should survive.
C: Recommendations
1 Domestication trials should be set up to investigate the potential for cultivation of
cardamom Amomum spp.), bong bark (Notaphoebe umbelliflora), ‘kheua hem’ vines
(Coscinium usitatum), paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), mak khene (Zanthoxylum
rhetsa) bamboos (various spp.) and rattans (Calamus spp.).
2 Feasibility studies should be done on the potential for developing village based processing
industries for production of (i) incense sticks from bong bark, (iii) berberine powder from
kheua hem vines, (iii) furniture from rattan canes, (iv) production of wallmats from bamboo.
Additional marketing studies on kisi resin and cardamom are also recommended.
3 Increasing participation of villagers in decision making in the future resettlement process
should be pursued through use of RRA techniques and land use planning based on villager’s
own forest blocks and boundary definitions.
4 Poor families, i.e. families with structural rice deficits, need special assistance from the
resettlement authorities. Wealth ranking should be used by the resettlement authorities to
identify needy families and proper assistance should be given to them immediately.
5 Immediate conservation measures that should be taken by the district and provincial
authorities are (i) a ban on trade in hunted animals with clear sanctions, (ii) a ban on logging
of ‘mai si’ wood (Parashorea dussaudi).

PART 2:
MAIN REPORT
1 BACKGROUND
This report describes the findings of a short mission (3 weeks) to study the use of Non
Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s) on the Nakai Plateau, Khammouan Province, Lao PDR.
This study is part of a larger study on resettlement options on the Nakai Plateau, which is
undertaken by NTEC, the consortium aiming to construct the Nakai Nam Theun 2
Hydroelectric Project. These studies are required to meet World Bank and Government of
Lao PDR environmental and resettlement requirements.
Realisation of this project would require the resettlement of approximately 850 families in 17
villages from within the reservoir area. The 20,000 ha proposed resettlement area is located
on the Southern edge of the Nakai plateau, above the 538 m. high-water line, between the
Nam Malou and the Nam On.
The terms of reference for the NTFP mission were:
• to identify type and value of NTFP’s currently used by the villagers on the Nakai plateau;
• to identify traditional user boundaries for various NTFP’s, especially in the proposed
resettlement area;
• to identify potential opportunities for the NTFP’s that occur naturally and their
sustainable use and value;
• to identify potential opportunities for improvement in the use of NTFP’s in the
resettlement area.
A team of three staff members of the Department of Forestry, currently working with its
NTFP Project (financed by Lao and Netherlands Governments, assisted by IUCN) were
assigned for this mission. The team consisted of one woman and two men. The field advisor
for Champasak to the NTFP Project assisted for one week in setting up the survey and in
designing the report.
The itinerary of the team was as follows:
26/2 travel to Thakek, introduction to NTEC, collect reports, maps
27/2 travel to Nakai, introduction to district authorities, village selection
28/2 to 3/3 fieldwork Ban Khone Ken
4/3 to 6/3 fieldwork Ban Ka Oy
7/3 to 9/3 fieldwork Ban Nakai Neua
10/3 to 13/3 fieldwork Ban Sop Phene
14/3 to 17/3 fieldwork Ban Thalang
18/3 market research Ban Lak Sao, Bolikhamsay
19/3 market research Thakek, Khammouan
20/3 travel back to Pakse
24/3 to 30/3 write report, Pakse

2 METHODS
The main methods used by the team belong to what has commonly become known as Rapid
Rural Appraisal (RRA) methods. RRA methods are a better alternative to collect information
for rural development than conventional approaches, such as questionnaire surveys. RRA
methods provide relevant information timely and are more cost-effective. Local knowledge
has great validity for rural development planning. RRA methods make this knowledge
available to outsiders and allows local people to be involved in project planning, using their
own terminology (NTFP Project, 1996). In this study, the following RRA tools were used:
1 building rapport
2 semi-structured interviews with key informants, cross checking
3 structured group meetings
4 participatory group sketch mapping
5 listing and ranking of NTFP’s
6 ranking of income and expenditure
7 wealth ranking
8 forest walks, rapid forest inventories
9 simple family interview questionnaires
2.1 Building rapport
Good RRA work depends heavily on appropriate behaviour and attitude of project staff. Such
behaviour includes:
• building rapport with men and women, rich and poor, young and old, etc.;
• being friendly, interested, culturally sensitive, relaxed, open;
• listening and probing;
• taking advantage of local events rather than staging events and activities;
• engaging in conversations that have a two way exchange of information;
• being patient but proceeding at moderate pace;
• seeking views of weaker, less powerful groups;
• sharing information;
• learning from people, not lecturing;
• being nice to people, and avoid placing them in situations in which they feel
uncomfortable;
• giving people time to communicate an consider ideas;
• scheduling RRA activities so that they fit in with seasonal and daily routines of people.
Another essential point of our method was to stay overnight in the village. This not only
allowed us to do most of our group activities when most people were available, i.e. in the
evening, but it also gave us an opportunity to build rapport. We would cook our own meals
but invite villagers to join our meals. Also we could catch up with people in the morning
before they went to their fields. Staying in the village also allowed us to calibrate local
product measures.

2.2 Semi-structured interviews with key informants, cross-checking
At our first entry into the district or into a village, we would interview the district authorities
or the village headman. Such interviews provided us not only with preliminary data on NTFP
use but would also create an understanding of the nature of our ask which made it easy to
arrange subsequent meetings with villagers. Any existing statistics on village economy or
NTFP use would be collected as well. These data are often useful to cross-check with data
derived from other methods. The technique of a semi-structured interview includes preparing
a checklist of questioned beforehand, using open-ended questions that seek explanation rather
than a yes or a no answer. For example we would rather ask “where do you collect NTFP’s?”
rather than “do you collect NTFP’s from the protected forest?”. This technique was also used
for interviewing local traders in NTFP’s.
2.3 Structured group meetings
A lot of RRA work was done in structured group meeting, usually in the evenings, when
people have time to join. During such meetings we would build rapport, do sketch mapping,
listing and ranking of NTFP’s, income/expenditure ranking, wealth ranking. These meetings
require a good facilitator, who is able to ensure that all participants understand the purpose of
the meeting, who can encourage equal participation of all participants, who can keep the
group to follow the agreed agenda, yet remaining flexible and able to change the agenda
according to the requirements of the group. In each village, we worked with groups of men
and women separately to allow different roles, knowledge and opinions to become visible. In
mixed groups, women do not always have an opportunity to make themselves heard
2.4 Participatory sketch mapping
We asked men and women separately to draw participatory maps of their village and
surrounding collection area’s. People could choose to use either local material such as sand,
sticks, stones, or paper and markers, provided by the project, to draw maps. This activity was
usually our starter activity, because it creates a fun atmosphere and allowed many persons to
participate. These maps would show where the most important village land use areas were,
what products would be collected from each of them. Such information is a good starting
point for further data gathering and it can be used to decide where to have the forest walk.
We would often come back to look at these maps later on in the work, to review added
information from forest walks etc.
2.5 Listing and ranking of NTFP’s
Separate groups of men and women were asked to write down which NTFP’s were used by
them and to rank them according to priority. The listing of NTFP’s often creates log lists of
products. Criteria used and discussed by villagers for ranking NTFP’s are often importance as
a food resource, income source, or other inputs to the household. The NTFP’s would be
written down by a group member who could write. Little drawings would sometimes be
added for the benefit of those members who could not read. Ranking was done by assigning
numbers of pebbles or tamarind seeds to each identified NTFP.

2.6 Ranking of income and expenditure
In a similar way to ranking of NTFP’s, we asked men and women separately to list and rank
their household income sources and categories of expenditures, to get an estimate of the
relative importance of income derived from NTFP’s, compared to livestock sales and other
sources of cash income.
2.7 Wealth ranking
The technique of wealth ranking is a quick method to find out in which way rich and poor
households differ and to assess the relative wealth status of each household (Grandin, 1988).
It consists of writing all the names of each family on separate small cards, and subsequently
asking informants to place these cards in piles according to the relative wealth of each family.
Results are recorded in a list of names. Informants are then asked to describe the
characteristics of each group and these wealth criteria are also recorded. This process is
repeated several times and in the end an average rank from all lists is calculated for each
family. The resulting list of families is then divided into new categories, according to natural
breaks, at least as many as in the list with the smallest number of categories. This results in a
breakdown of the village into groups from wealthy to poor, which can be used for subsequent
sampling.
2.8 Simple family interview questionnaires
Following the stratification of families in wealth categories through wealth ranking, a sample
of 5-10 families from each category was randomly selected for a family interview. A simple
questionnaire was designed on the spot, using information previously gathered on main
sources of income and main NTFP’s used. The questions were aimed at quantifying income
sources, rice economy and the use of NTFP’s for each family. Data were recorded in field
notebooks. On average half an hour was needed per family.
In each village, families were classified into 4-5 wealth classes by villagers themselves in a
wealth ranking exercise. From each class, 5 families were interviewed, so in each village 20-
25 families were interviewed. Totals for the whole village were calculated by multiplying the
average data for each class with the number of families in the class. Weighted averages for
the whole village were calculated from these totals by dividing them through the total number
of families per village.
2.9 Forest walks, rapid forest inventories
A small group of villagers would be asked to show the team some of the important areas for
collecting NTFP’s by making a forest walk. The aim of such a walk is to asses the
composition and condition of the forest, to determine what products are available and to get
an idea of the distances and location of forests and agricultural lands. We often split the team
into two groups, one going with some women and the other with some men, doing separate
walks in separate directions so as to increase coverage. During these walks, villagers would
be asked to show the team useful products encountered along the trail. The team would also
stop at relevant places and make a rapid forest inventory, checking forest characteristics that
can be observed easily such as main tree species, soil cover and crown cover, density of key
species, tree sizes, villagers observations on occurrence of NTFP’s, size of the area, local
name etc.

2.10 Village selection
Out of the total of 17 villages, five were selected for this study. The aim of the selection was
to get a representative sample, i.e. villages in various geographic locations, both villages that
are close to the forest as well as villages that are further away from the forest, villages of
various ethnic groups, poor as well as wealthy villages, etc. These criteria were explained to
the district agricultural office who assisted us in selecting five villages, as well as choosing
the most efficient itinerary. The following villages were selected: Ban Khon Kene, Ban Ka-
Oy, Ban Nakai Neua, Ban Sop Phene and Ban Thalang.

3 PROMINENT NTFP’S OF NAKAI PLATEAU
3.1 Listing of NTFP’s by groups of villagers
Villagers were asked to list all products which they gather from the forest. A complete list of
all NTFP’s recorded in this study is given in Annex 1: “NTFP List”. A total number of 306
NTFP species were recorded during this short survey (Table 1).
Table 1: Main categories of NTFP’s found on the Nakai plateau,
identified by villagers in 5 villages visited, March 1997.
Category No of species Category No of species
A: Food Products 223 B: Non-food Products 67
1 rattan/bamboo shoots 17 1 rattans 7
2 tubers 7 2 bamboos 8
3 vegetables 40 3 grasses, fibres 9
4 fruits 51 4 medicines 43
5 mushrooms 9
6 mammals 31 C: Sellable Products 16
7 birds 24
8 reptiles 13 TOTAL 306
9 fishes 28
10 molluscs 3
The most prominent NTFP’s will be described in more detail in the next paragraphs.
3.2 Main products for local use
Rattan and bamboo shoots, cooked or eaten raw, are the most important side dish to rice on
the daily menu. The two most common species are “boun” (Daemonorops schmidtiana), a
medium sized rattan, and “san” (Raphis sp.) a small palm tree.
Fish and other water animals like frogs, shrimps, soft-shelled turtles, crabs and molluscs are
probably the most important source of protein in the diet of villagers on the Nakai plateau, as
in most of Lao PDR. There are over 85 species of fish in the upper Nam Theun region
(Roberts, 1996; Kottelat, 1996). In our survey, villagers mentioned 28 species.
Wildlife is a more important source of protein than livestock for most villages in the upper
Nam Theun. Some 31 mammal species, 24 bird species and 13 reptile species were recorded
as regularly eaten (see appendix 1). During our fieldwork, freshly hunted animals were
regularly offered for sale to the team: we saw junglefowl (Gallus gallus), mousedeer
(Tragulus javanicus), red squirrels (Calliosciurus finlaysoni), brown hornbill (Ptilolaemus
tickelii).
Vegetables: Some 40 types of leaves from trees, shrubs and herbs are eaten fresh or cooked.
These are commonly referred to as “phak”. Tubers, “man”,”koy” (Dioscorea spp.) are eaten
as a susbstitute for rice in times of hunger. Mushrooms, “hed” are important in the rainy
season. Various flowers, “dok” and forest fruits “mak” (51 species) are also gathered and
eaten.

Bamboos “mai” and rattan “vai” are widely used for house construction and to produce
fishing gear and baskets. Most commonly used species are: mai hia (Cephalostachyum
virgatum),mai sod (Oxythenanthera parvifolia), mai bong (Bambusa tulda), mai phai
(Bambusa blumeana), mai kasen( Neuhouzea mekkhongensis), vai hang nou (Calamus
javanensis), vai boun (Daemonorops schmidtiana). Vai thoun (Calamus sp.). is also exported
to Vietnam.
3.3 NTFP’s collected for sale from the Nakai plateau
Forest products collected for sale by villagers on the Nakai plateau fall into four categories:
plant exudates (kisi, po heuang), medicinal plants (cardamom, kheua hem, hak tin houng),
spices/condiments (mak phep, mak khene, no kha) and tree barks (bong, chouang, po sa).
“Kisi” resin, also called damar in trade, is produced by a dipterocarp tree, “mai si” (several
Shorea and Parashorea species, in this area mainly Parashorea dussaudii). It is collected from
the forest floor after it falls from the tree. This product is exported mainly to Thailand. It is
used in the paint industry as a siccative. Current price is 150 kip/kg.
Eaglewood, “mai dam” or “mai ketsana” or “po heuang” is a rare scented wood, produced
is small quantities in the heartwood of Aquilaria crassna after incisive damage by insects,
bullets, etc. It is very looked after in the Arab countries, as well as China and Japan and
fetches a very high price. On the plateau it is sold for 7,000-16,000 kip/kg.
Wild cardamom (Amomum sp.) grows abundantly in disturbed forest on wetter locations. Its
fruits, harvested in October, are sold to China where it is used in the preparation of various
medicines. The price is 3,000 kip/kg.
“Kheua hem”, Coscinium usitatum, is a vine which produces the medicine “berberine”,
which is very effective against stomach problems. It is an effective drug against amoeba and
various intestinal bacteria. The medicine is popular in Vietnam and Laos. The vines sell for
10 kip/kg.
“Hak tin houng” is the root of a small fern, Helminthostachys zeylanica, which grows on wet
places near bamboos. It is a popular medicine in China. Price: 3,000 kip/kg.
The bark of “bong” trees (Notaphoebe umbelliflora) is collected and sold to Thailand where
it is used to make joss sticks and incense. There are actually two types of bong trees: “bong
khao” (Notaphoebe umbelliflora) and “bong deng” (yet to be determined). Both types were
seen growing on the same spot, but generally “bong khao” prefers open dry forest (“pa
khok”) whereas “bong deng” can grow anywhere. Current harvesting pressure is rapidly
depleting present stands. The trees are reported to recover well from stumps. The price is 60-
100 kip/kg.
Paper mulberry, “po sa”, Broussonetia papyrifera, is a small tree which traditionally has
been used for producing paper in China, Japan and Laos. Since this year, some traders in the
area of Nakai have shown interest in buying the bark of this tree. The price is 150 kip/kg.
“Pheuak chouang”, the bark of Cinnamomum spp., is known as “false” cinnamom and used
as a spice. Price 60 kip/kg.
“No kha” is the rootstock of wild Alpinia spp., also called “galangal”, used a common spice
throughout Southeast Asia. The price is 400 kip/kg.
“Mak khene” , the fruit of Zanthoxylum rhetsa, is a spice resembling pepper, price 400
kip/kg.

“Mak kham phep” is a spice of a yet undetermined species.

4 Importance of NTFP’s in the family economy
4.1 Ranking exercises with groups of villagers
Importance of NTFP’s in the family economy was assessed in three ways. Firstly, villagers
were asked in two groups (men and women) to rank all products found in the forest in order
of importance. There were usually some differences between these groups, with women
giving more importance to edible products, men attaching more importance to sellable
products and wildlife. The results shown in table 2 are the combined rankings of both men
and women’s groups. Kisi resin (14 %), fish/frogs(14%), rattan shoots (12%), cardamom
(12%) and wildlife (10%) are considered to be the most important products from the forest.
Food products are more numerous and considered more important (56%) than non-food
products (44%).
Table 2: Villagers ranking of importance of NTFP’s in 5 villages on the Nakai
Plateau, March 1997.
No Product KhoneKen Kaoy Nakai N. Sophen Thalang TOTAL
1 Kisi resin 12 % 12 % 14 % 18 % 15 % 14 %
2 Fish, frogs 14 % 14 % 16 % 9 % 16 % 14 %
3 Rattan shoots 14 % 16 % 12 % 7 % 13 % 12 %
4 Cardamom 14 % 11 % 10 % 10 % 4 % 10 %
5 Wildlife 10 % 14 % 9 % 9 % 7 % 10 %
6 Bong bark 7 % 4 % 8 % 5 % 6 % 6 %
7 Bamboo shoots 8 % 10 % 5 % 2 % 4 % 6 %
8 Vegetables 7 % 6 % 7 % 1 % 5 % 5 %
9 Rattan canes 3 % 3 % 13 % 4 % 5 %
10 Mushrooms 3 % 9 % 3 % 4 % 4 %
11 Kho leaves 4 % 9 % 3 %
12 Bamboo canes 4 % 5 % 2 %
13 Khamphep fruits 3 % 2 % 4 % 2 %
14 Chouang bark 6 % 1 %
15 Fruits 2 % 2 % 3 % 1 %
16 Tubers 6 % 1 %
17 Kheua hem 6 % 1 %
18 Eaglewood 6 % 1 %
19 Galangal (kha) 3 % 2 % 1 %
20 Mak khen spice 2 % 1 % 1 %
22 Hak tin houng 2 % 0 %
Total Food 61 % 60 % 63 % 41 % 52 % 56 %
Total Non-food 39 % 40 % 37 % 59 % 49 % 44 %
A second way of assessing the importance of NTFP’s in the family economy consists of
asking villagers to rank their sources of cash income from sales or barter trade. The outcome
of this exercise is presented in table 3. NTFP’s account for 76 % of average family income
over all five villages surveyed. Livestock sales are the second most important source of
income (16%). Within the NTFP’s, kisi resin (14%), fish (12%), cardamom (11%) and
wildlife (10 %) are the most important products sold.

In the same exercise, we used to ask villagers to also rank their main expenditures, so as to
get an overall picture of the family economy. The results are shown in table 4. Buying rice
(18%), other food (14%), clothes (13%) and medicines (12%) are considered as the main
family expenditures.
Table 3: Ranking of main cash income sources in 5 villages on the Nakai Plateau,
March 1997.
No Income source KhoneKen Kaoy Nakai N. Sophen Thalang TOTAL
1 Livestock sales 24 % 15 % 17 % 12 % 11 % 16 %
2 Kisi resin 10 % 16 % 11 % 18 % 15 % 14 %
3 Fish sales 12 % 8 % 12 % 10 % 19 % 12 %
4 Cardamom 12 % 16 % 7 % 10 % 8 % 11 %
5 Wildlife sales 11 % 8 % 6 % 11 % 12 % 10 %
6 Bong bark 10 % 6 % 7 % 9 % 8 % 8 %
7 Rattan shoots 6 % 7 % 4 % 6 % 9 % 6 %
8 Rattan canes 7 % 3 % 3 % 11 % 1 % 5 %
9 Bamboo shoots 3 % 6 % 8 % 4 % 4 %
10 Agr. crops 5 % 4 % 6 % 3 %
12 Eaglewood 12 % 2 %
12 Labour wages 3 % 3 % 4 % 2 %
13 Vegetables 7 % 2 %
14 Bai kho 5 % 1 %
15 Mak khen 4 % 1 %
16 Shop sales 4 % 1 %
17 Mushrooms 3 % 1 % 1 %
18 Mak phep 3 % 1 %
19 Handicrafts 2 % 0 %
20 Hak tin houng 2 % 0 %
21 Galangal (kha) 2 % 0 %
22 Kheua hem 1 % 0 %
Total NTFP’s 73 % 82 % 61 % 84 % 83 % 76 %
Livestock 24 % 15 % 17 % 12 % 11 % 16 %
Others 3 % 3 % 22 % 4 % 6 % 8 %
Table 4:
Villagers’ ranking of family expenditures, 5 villages on the Nakai plateau,
March 1997.
No Expenditure KhoneKen Kaoy Nakai N. Sophen Thalang TOTAL
1 Buying rice 18 % 23 % 14 % 20 % 15 % 18 %
2 Other food 16 % 16 % 17 % 9 % 14 % 14 %
3 Clothes 15 % 16 % 12 % 12 % 10 % 13 %
4 Medicines 12 % 14 % 13 % 7 % 13 % 12 %
5 Kitchen utensils 11 % 5 % 4 % 7 % 6 % 7 %
6 Agric. tools 10 % 10 % 7 % 7 % 5 % 8 %
7 House building 5 % 9 % 4 % 4 %
8 Drinking,
5 % 9 % 8 % 9 % 7 % 8 %
smoking
9 Fishing/hunting 4 % 5 % 9 % 9 % 6 %
tools
10 Buying fish 4 % 1 %
11 Buying cattle 3 % 1 %
12 Ceremonies 7 % 4 % 4 % 3 % 4 %
13 Jewelry 7 % 7 % 3 %
14 Transportation 7 % 7 % 7 % 4 %

4.2 Household interviews
4.2.1 The role of NTFP’s in the family economy
The third method we used to assess the importance of NTFP’s was a short questionnaire
survey, focusing on the family economy, interviewing 100 families in 5 villages. NTFP’s are
the most important source of cash income (40%) over all villages (see table 5). They are
especially important for those villages that live on the edge of the forest, i.e. Ban Khon Ken
(73%), Ban Ka-Oy (60%) and Ban Sopphene (68%). In Ban Nakai Neua and Thalang, many
families have off-farm income sources such as salaries or income from trading.
These data differ from those of the group ranking exercises described in paragraph 4. We
tend to think that the family based interviews are more reliable than the group discussions. It
could be that group meetings are dominated by village leaders who are often wealthier and
have a larger family size, hence tend to collect more NTFP’s and buy less rice than the
average family. It is likely that selling of livestock is considered shameful and not readily
admitted to in group discussions, hence underestimated. The truth is probably somewhere in
the middle. At any rate NTFP’s are without doubt the most important source of income over
all families.
More than half of the cash income was spent on buying rice in 1996. In Ban Ka-Oy and Ban
Sop Phene, families needed to buy much more rice than could be bought from their cited cash
income. It seems likely that rice shortages did already occur in many families in 1996.
Table 5: Average family budgets, 5 villages, Nakai plateau, 1996.
Village 9eo;o7v[7q; Khonken Kaoy Nakai Sopphene Thalang AVERAGE %
Total No Families 9eo;o7v[7q; 35 25 57 40 41
NTFP's 1996 7 x f !__* 116,457 141,627 84,407 35,495 62,722 82,926 41%
Livestock laf]Ph' 42,583 95,079 130,449 16,750 21,463 64,914 32%
Off-farm ovd9kdg7njv'd}d 0 0 110,246 0 118,130 56,199 28%
GROSSVALUE ]kpIa[ma's,qf 159,040 236,706 325,102 52,245 202,315 204,038 100%
Rice*** g0Qk -48,060 -397,786 -33,025 -172,215 -147,293 -133,519 -65%
NET VALUE ]kpIa[ 110,980 -161,080 292,076 -119,970 55,023 70,519 35%
*) Amount of money needed to buy rice (negative values) or surplus rice sold (positive values), based on a
calculation of surpluses after family consumption, calculated as 300 kg/head/year.
Because of the exceptional floods of 1996, the amount of rice produced for 1997 will be
extremely low and families have to spend more money on buying rice. They increased their
income from NTFP’s and sold more cattle (see table 6). It should be noted that these data
were collected in March 1997, which means another 6-7 months will pass before the next rice
harvest will happen. Most likely villagers will try to sell more livestock and collect more
forest products to buy rice in the mean time. Many families will face serious rice shortages
this year.

Table 6: Average family budgets, 5 villages, Nakai plateau, March 1997.
Village 9eo;o7v[7q; Khonken Kaoy Nakai Sopphene Thalang AVERAGE %
Total No Families 9eo;o7v[7q; 35 25 57 40 41
NTFP's 1997 7 x f !__( n.a. 164,716 118,891 245,919 30,195 116,931 47%
Livestock laf]Ph' n.a. 0 231,309 23,682 118,130 77,626 31%
Off-farm ovd9kdg7njv'd}d n.a. 0 110,246 0 207,372 56,199 22%
GROSS VALUE ]kpIa[ma's,qf n.a. 164,716 460,446 269,601 -232,398 250,755 100%
Rice*** g0Qk n.a. -444,750 -284,202 -270,858 -25,027 -240,813 -96%
NET VALUE n.a. -280,034 176,244 -1,257 -257,425 9,943 4%
*) Amount of money needed to buy rice (negative values) or surplus rice sold (positive values), based on a
calculation of surpluses after family consumption, calculated as 300 kg/head/year.
4.2.2 Estimated quantities of NTFP’s collected
A rough estimate of the total off-take of NTFP’s was calculated by multiplying average offtake
per family by 850 , the total number of families on the plateau. What we have here is
only a rough estimate, the actual off-take may be higher (see also table 12 in chapter 5). The
results are shown in table 7. Harvesting of kisi resin has increased from 158 tonnes in 1996 to
345 tonnes in 1997, over all 5 villages surveyed. Bong bark harvested has fallen back from
211 tonnes in 1996 to 96 tonnes in 1997. This hints to depletion of the stock. The situation on
the rattan canes is less clear, harvesting seems to have come to a halt in the plateau area but is
apparently still very much going on in the adjacent national protected area (Dick Watling,
IUCN, p.c.).
Table 7:
Estimated total extraction of NTFP’s on the Nakai plateau.
1996 1997
bong (kg) [q' d] 210,976 95,831
kisi (kg) 0U-u d] 158,167 344,736
cardamom(kg) s,kdcsoj' d] 3,771 1,122
rattan canes(no) s;kpm6o glAo 10,268 0
What are the most valuable NTFP’s collected for selling? Kisi resin is the most important
product, going up from 28% of NTFP based family income in 1996 to 56% of average
family income in 1997 (see table 8). Curiously rattan shoots have come up to second place in
1997, replacing bong bark which has been greatly reduced. Rattan canes have all but
disappeared, cardamom remains stable. This picture may still change as we are early in the
year.

Table 8:
Estimated income from NTFP’s in 5 villages on the Nakai plateau.
Product 7 x f Total Value 5 villages Av. Value per household
(values in kip) 1996 1997 1996 1997
kisi 0U-u du[ 4,684,367 13,079,661 23,658 66,059
rattan shoots [6jo}lko 326,606 5,071,125 1,650 25,612
cardamom \kdc|' du[ 2,196,294 1,834,933 11,092 9,267
bong [q' 3,919,132 1,632,600 19,794 8,245
wildlife lafxjk 77,857 1,024,800 393 5,176
others* 1,991,014 721,333 10,056 3,643
rattan canes s;kpm6o 3,224,000 55,175 16,283 279
TOTAL ]kpIa[ma's,qf 16,419,271 23,419,628 82,926 118,281
*) others include various fish species sold, eaglewood (Aquilaria crassna), and wild cinnamom, “chouang” bark
(Cinnamom sp.)
4.2.3 Differences between wealth classes within a village
Working with wealth classes allowed us to compare the importance of NTFP’s between
wealthy and poor families. The poorer families tend to derive a high percentage if not all of
their cash income from NTFP’s (see table 9). However, if we look at the absolute values,
poor families do not get higher income from NTFP’s than richer families (see table 10). This
means that most families tend to be involved in collecting NTFP’s, but poorer families have
no access to other sources of income.
Table 9:
Percentage of cash income derived from NTFP’s in 1996, per wealth class
(1=wealthiest, 5=poorest), in 5 villages on the Nakai plateau.
Village: Wealth class:
1 2 3 4 5
Khone ken 49% 75% 89% 89%
Ka-Oy 33 % 90% 99%
Nakai Neua 12% 25% 17% 27% 64%
Sop Phen 57% 61% 100% 100% 100%
Thalang 31% 5% 59% 83%
Similar relationships are found if we rank all 21 wealth classes in all 5 villages according to
net income (see Annex 4 and table 11). In a normal year like 1996, of all 191 families living
in the 5 villages together, 108 families or 57 % have a positive net income, and 83 families or
43 % had a negative income or rice shortage. Income from NTFP’s is higher among wealthy
families than among poor families (see table 11). Also income from livestock sales and other
income such as salaries and trading goods, are much higher in the richer groups than in the
poorer groups. For the poorest, NTFP’s are the only available source of income.

Table 10:
kip).
Cash income per family, derived from NTFP’s in 1996, per wealth class
(1=wealthiest, 5=poorest), in 5 villages on the Nakai plateau (values in
Village: Wealth class:
1 2 3 4 5
Khone ken 114,300 123,000 130,300 99,030
Ka-Oy 137,009 156,714 132,320
Nakai Neua 81,000 80,000 60,000 91,200 101,400
Sop Phen 92,950 32,358 24,000 30,000 10,000
Thalang 163,400 10,000 24,000 100,900
Table 11:
Income distribution for 1996 among all 191 families in 5 villages on the
Nakai Plateau, divided into four income groups.
(group A positive net income > 200,000 kip; group B positive net income

5 Traditional use areas and boundaries
Where do villagers collect their NTFP’s from? We used three data collection methods to
answer this question: land-use type ranking, forest block ranking and sketch mapping. In
addition, we did rapid forest inventories in each village (see Annex 5). In general villagers
discern main land use types such as dry dipterocarp and evergreen forests, paddy fields and
upland rice/fallow fields , streams and ponds etc. Within the evergreen forest, they discern
many forest blocks, usually delineated by streams “huay” or other landscape features such as
roads or rocks.
Firstly we asked villagers to define and rank main land-use types where NTFP’s are
collected. (see table 12). Interestingly, an overall 60 % of NTFP’s was classified as collected
from streams, ponds, paddy fields, grass fields, and fallwo fields which are not strictly forest
areas. These areas are likely to be mostly situated within the inundation zone. Only 25 % was
said to be derived for the evergreen forest and mountains. The proposed resettlement area
falls under what villagers would call “pa kok”. Only 16 % of all NTFP’s are said to be
derived from this area. It is also remarkable that little difference in opinion was found
between groups of men and women on this issue.
Table 12:
Collection areas for NTFP’s, ranked according to relative importance, by
villagers in 3 villages on the Nakai Plateau, March 1997.
Village Nakai Sopphene Thalang All
Landtype men/women men women men women men women men women overall
dong/pou evergreen forest/mountains 15% 29% 25% 25% 32% 22% 24% 25% 25%
kok dry dipterocarp/pine forests 25% 13% 14% 20% 8% 16% 15% 16% 16%
palao fallow regrowth 20% 26% 14% 15% 8% 18% 14% 20% 17%
houay/nong streams/ponds 25% 22% 38% 30% 33% 33% 32% 28% 30%
thong/naa grassfields/paddy fields 15% 10% 10% 10% 20% 12% 15% 11% 13%
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Secondly, we would ask villagers to specifically list and rank the evergreen forest areas as to
their importance for collecting NTFP’s (see Annex 1). We found that villagers are able to
identify forest blocks and main products collected per block. Villagers estimates of yield
potential for all blocks make an interesting comparison with the estimated total production
per village, calculated from the individual family survey data (see table 13). In some cases,
both estimates are remarkably close, e.g. in Ban Khone ken, Ban Ka-oy, in others they are
very different, e.g. Ban Thalang, which begs the question which of the two estimates is
closest to the truth. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to feed back these differences to
the villagers involved. For now we can only conclude that villagers can make consistent
estimates of NTFP’s but the data require back-checking and may in some cases
underestimate the real harvest of NTFP’s. Forest block ranking is potentially a powerful and
quick tool, but it should be used with caution.
Thirdly, we asked villagers could usually draw a map of their resource use area and name
various landscape elements and forest blocks (see Annex 6).These area’s can more or less be
recognised on the topographical maps. It would take a special survey to define the exact
boundaries of each block and its size properly. Such an exercise could not be undertaken
within the limited time available for this study. More intensive mapping should be done using

GPS, measuring densities of NTFP’s in the forest and discussing these maps with groups of
villagers to assess their estimates of yield from each block.
Table 13: Comparison of estimates of total village harvests of 3 key NTFP’s in 5
villages on the Nakai plateau, using family survey data and villagers
forest block ranking estimates.
Khone
Ken
survey96 survey97 men's
blocks
women's
blocks
kisi 4,213 3,950
cardamom 711 3,500
bong 11,202 10,800
Kaoy kisi 17,086 8,300 14,500
cardamom 167 280 586
bong 1,139 2,000 1,700
Nakai kisi 11,878 12,206 4,100 47,000
cardamom 0 0 600 75
bong 15,414 16,488 4,400 2,650
Sop Phene kisi 0 60,699 61,000 57,000
cardamom 0 227 1,400 55
bong 19,030 210 17,000 2,000
Thalang kisi 3,667 7,398 29,000 49,500
cardamom 0 35 400 101
bong 2,360 5,625 18,000 12,700
TOTAL kisi 36,844 80,303 106,350 168,000
5 villages cardamom 879 261 6,180 817
bong 49,145 22,323 52,200 19,050
These villager defined forest blocks could become a powerful tool in setting up a truly
participatory system for land use planning and community forest management. We
recommend strongly that this entry is explored further by the National Resettlement
Committee and any other agencies which may become involved in the resettlement work.
Part of the NTFP’s are collected from the future inundation zone. An extended mapping
exercise as advocated above, would allow to make a more accurate estimate of how much
production potential would be lost due to inundation. In the case of one village, Ban Khon
Kene, villagers estimated some 70 % of their present production of NTFP’s would be lost to
flooding. Of course this will be different in each village. It would be useful to incorporate
such data in any economic modelling for resettlement options. In any case, it is likely that the
collection pressure on the adjacent NBCA protected area will be increased after filling the
reservoir.

6 Potential use of NTFP’s in the proposed resettlement area
In this chapter we try to asses the relative sustainability of present harvesting of NTFP’s by
looking at three main characteristics of the main species. Firstly, we gauge the effect of
harvesting on the regeneration/survival of the species (ecological sustainability). Secondly
we look at the trends in prices and quantities collected (economical or market sustainability).
Thirdly, we look at the potential for domesticating the species, especially on the sandy soils
of the proposed resettlement area.
kisi: the damar resin exudes naturally from the tree, falls off the tree and is collected from the
forest floor. This type of harvesting does not harm the producing tree and is very sustainable,
provided trees are not cut down. The main threat to kisi production is logging of trees of mai
si, which has a good quality wood. Many trees are taken out of the reservoir area right now.
Logging of these trees above the future water level should be avoided.
The current price of kisi is 150 kip/kg, which is rather low. The demand for kisi resin seems
stable, the price has not changed much over the past three years. An average full grown tree
(height over 40 m.) produces 3-5 kg per year. It is not difficult to plant “si” trees, but
villagers will not likely be motivated to do so as it take 50-100 years for a tree to mature and
the trees do not have individual ownership.
bong bark: Production has gone down sharply over the last year, because villagers have cut
all the harvestable trees already. Normally trees regrow from coppice after harvesting, but
high harvesting pressure may have killed quite a lot of stumps. This tree is easy to plant and
can be harvested after 3-4 years. So we can say that although present harvesting is not
sustainable, the prospects for sustainable harvesting are good. The prices are rather low: 60-
100 kip/kg. An average tree produces 0.5 to 1 kg of bark. The bong bark is exported as raw
material for making incense, mainly joss sticks. There is a good potential for introducing joss
stick manufacturing to the villages, combined with a plantation effort.
cardamom: Cardamom is harvested by picking the fruits from the plants. If the fruits are cut
carefully with a knife instead of pulling most of the plant from the soil, harvesting is
sustainable. The main problem now is the low densities in natural stands. This plant is easy to
grow under the right conditions: good deep soils, under trees, abundant rainfall. The price for
raw cardamom on the Nakai plateau is now 3,000 kip/kg. The price of cardamom has risen
very spectacularly over the last three years in Laos. In Champasak Province, cardamom went
up from 1,200 in 1994 to 8,000 kip in 1997. It is now the second most important export
product there, after coffee. In Champasak and Salavane Province, many farmers have planted
cardamom in forest gardens, which produce about 300 kg/ha/year. In one village where we
did a survey in October last year, on average each of the 200 households had an income from
cardamom of more than 1,000,000 kip.
On the Nakai plateau, many of the present stands of cardamom are found at low elevations in
or near the future inundation zone, and may disappear after flooding. However the potential
for cultivation should be studied as the market prospects are so good. The main problem to be
overcome will be to find sufficient water to provide the crop with an all year moist soil. This
may prove to be difficult on the traditionally dry, sandy soils of the proposed resettlement
area.

wildlife: Unfortunately, wildlife is an important part of daily diet of villagers and has
increasingly become a trade product too. The harvesting is very unsustainable: many species
are being wiped out through uncontrolled hunting. Prices for bushmeat are not higher, often
even lower than those of livestock: around 2,000 kip/kg is the usual price for bushmeat. This
means there is little scope for wildlife farming. Some species more expensive, e.g. pangolins
sell for 20,000 kip per animal as there scales are valuable. There is a big need to raise
awareness among villagers of the need to protect the most vulnerable species. Outsiders (e.g.
Foreigners, Lao government and army personnel) should be banned from hunting in this area.
rattan shoots: harvesting of “san” small palms is very sustainable as this plant regrows
quick and abundantly near streams. Harvesting of “boun”, big diameter rattans is destructive
and not sustainable, as it takes 5-10 year for such climbers to regrow. The present price of
400 kip/kg is quite high and might indicate a potential for selling to Thakek city centre.
rattan canes “vai thoun”: The harvesting of rattan canes usually kills the plant and seems to
be very unsustainable. In most villages visited, harvesting has stopped, because this product
is depleted already. There are indications that the harvesting is now mainly taking place
inside the NBCA. These big rattans are rather difficult to grow, takes 5-10 years to reach
maturity. The price: 400 kip per stem is very low compared to the high price of the final
product, rattan furniture. There may be a potential for developing rattan furniture industry,
but this would need good design and good connections to overseas markets, which are
difficult to establish for small farmers.
eaglewood: Unsustainable harvesting. This product is rare to find and very much looked after
by Vietnamese traders. In spite of the high price of 7,000-16,000 kip/kg, there seems to be
little scope for increasing production. It is not difficult to grow the tree but it takes 20-30
years to grow to desired size. Above that it is very tricky to induce the formation of the
valuable part, which is the black wood which occasionally develops after incision combined
with insect attack.
kheua hem: The medicine “berberine”, produced from the stems of this climber, is very
popular as an effective drug for stomach ailments both in Vietnam and Laos. As long as the
vines are cut one meter above the ground, plants can regrow. It is probably possible to plant
this climber in a forest setting. It takes about 7-9 years for a vine to regrow. The price of raw
stems is very low: 10 kip/kg, but the half product, berberine powder, sells in Champasak
province for 12,400 kip/kg and in Attapeu for 20,000 kip/kg. One tonne (1,000 kg) of vines
can produce 7 kg of powder.
In Champasak Province, processing of this product is done by the CBF pharmaceutical
company at KM4, using only Vietnamese personnel. In 1996, they exported 5 tonnes of
berberine powder to Vietnam. A smaller operation is based in Attapeu province, run by the
pharmaceutical company NO 2 from Vientiane. The process involved in producing the
powder is rather low-tech. It requires shredding machines to shred the vines into pieces, salt,
flowing water and some basic equipment such as plastic sheets for making reservoirs. There
may be a potential for developing such an industry in the Nakai area.
galangal “no kha”: the harvested part is the stem shoot, which is the main natural
propagation mechanism of this plant. Overharvesting is thus not impossible, but natural
densities are low and so is the price: 400 kip/kg. This means people are less keen to go to
great length to harvest this product. Demand is probably limited as this plant is it used in the

same way as its close relative, the generally cultivated galangal species, which are abundant
throughout Southeast-Asia and used in cooking as a spice.
bamboos: Present harvesting seems sustainable, although heavy harvesting of shoots for
consumption might theoretically impair regrowth. Most bamboos are easy to plant. There
maybe a potential for processing bamboo products such as bamboo shoots and bamboo mats.
mak khene: The harvested product are the ripe seeds of the flowers of this herbaceous plant.
Since plenty of seeds will spoil on the ground before and during harvesting, the survival of
this species does not seem to be directly threatened by the harvesting. Natural densities are
probably low, the plant is probably easy to grow. Current price of mak khene is about 300
kip/kg, only 250 kg were collected in Ban Sopphone, a village visited on the way to Ban
Kaoy. This product is popular as spice in Northern Thailand.
paper mulberry “po sa”: Present harvesting still limited, probably sustainable, as this tree
coppices easily and takes only one or two years to regrow up to harvestable size. Price: 150
kip/kg, only 700 kg harvested in Ban Sopphone. There is a potential for growing this tree for
the production of a special type of durable paper, which is used in Northern Thailand to
produce decorative umbrella’s and fashionable stationary. Lao PDR exports bark of paper
mulberry to Korea, where it is used to produce paper as well.

7 Conclusions
7.1 What is the present use of NTFP’s in the area?
Interviewed villagers could identify 306 species of NTFP’s: 223 food products and 67 nonfood
products. Among the food products, 50 species of edible leaves, 50 fruit species, 31
mammals, 28 fishes were identified.
Kisi resin (damar resin from Shorea sp.), fish/frogs, edible rattan shoots (Raphis sp. and
Daemonorops schmidtii), cardamom (Amomum sp.) and wildlife (10%) are considered by
villagers to be the most important products from the forest. Food products are more numerous
and considered more important (56%) than non-food products (44%).
According to ranking exercises, done with groups of villagers, NTFP’s account for 76 % of
average family income over all five villages surveyed. Livestock sales are the second most
important source of income (16%). Within the NTFP’s, kisi resin (14%), fish (12%),
cardamom (11%) and wildlife (10 %) are the most important products sold.
In the same exercise, we used to ask villagers to also rank their main expenditures. Buying
rice (18%), other food (14%), clothes (13%) and medicines (12%) are considered as the main
family expenditures.
According to a survey over 100 out of 191 individual households in the five villages visited,
family economies derived 41% of their income from NTFP’s, 32% from livestock sales and
28% form other sources in 1996. They spent 65% of their income on buying rice in 1996.
These data differ from the outcome of the ranking exercise. Group discussions may
underestimate the income from livestock. At any rate NTFP’s are by far the most important
source of income in all villages.
Unprecedented floods destroyed most rice crops in the wet season of 1996, therefore most
families must spent their entire income on buying rice in 1997. Many families will not be
able to find enough money to satisfy their needs in rice, even though they will sell more
livestock and increase their collection of NTFP’s.
The absolute amount of money earned from NTFP’s per family does not differ very much
between poor and rich families. However, in poor families NTFP’s are often the only source
of income, they do not have access to other options such as livestock raising, salaries or
trading (see table 11).
This finding has important implications for the planning of all income generating and social
activities in the resettlement scheme. Poor families the are most vulnerable when access to
NTFP’s is going to be reduced by the inundation of the former collection areas by the
reservoir. Development agencies working with these families may want to develop special
measures to counterbalance such losses.
From the survey, kisi resin comes forward as the most important NTFP for income
generation, going up from 28% of NTFP based family income in 1996 to 56% of average
family income in 1997 (see table 8). Curiously rattan shoots have come up to second place in
1997, replacing bong bark which has been greatly reduced. This means that rattan shoots are

not only used for home consumption but are becoming an important trade product. The
reduction of bong bark is probably due to depletion of the stock. Rattan canes have all but
disappeared, cardamom remains stable. This picture may still change as we are early in the
year.
7.2 How (un-)sustainable is the present use system?
The harvesting of all wildlife, rattan canes (Calamus sp.), eaglewood (Aquilaria crassna) and
‘hak tin houng’ (Helminthostachys zeylanica) are particularly destructive and should be
terminated. Harvesting of kisi resin is mainly threatened by logging of the commercially
interesting wood of Parashorea spp. This logging should be limited. Harvesting of bong bark
(Notaphoebe umbelliflora) has been very intensive lately and harvestable trees have almost
disappeared from the forest. However this tree can coppice easily from roots and may come
back, even though it takes 3-4 years for stems to regrow.
7.3 How would the planned reservoir affect the availability of NTFP’s?
Overall, 60 % of NTFP’s was classified as collected from streams, ponds, paddy fields, grass
fields and fallow fields, which are not strictly forest areas. These areas are likely to be mostly
situated within the inundation zone. Only 25 % was said to be derived for the evergreen
forest and mountains. Only 16 % of all NTFP’s are said to be derived from the proposed
resettlement area, called “pa kok” by villagers. It is also remarkable that little difference in
opinion was found between groups of men and women on this issue.
We found that villagers are able to identify forest blocks and main products collected per
block. Villagers estimates of yield potential for all blocks were too variable to be useful.
However the delineation of forest use blocks seems to have a great potential for future
participatory forest management.
7.4 What are the possibilities for exploiting NTFP’s in the proposed
settlement area?
The present lifestyle of most villagers on the Nakai plateau is not very sustainable. Families
have to face constant rice shortages and irregular floods. Forest products are the main source
of cash income but cannot supply enough cash to buy rice to feed the family all year round.
Due to high collecting pressure and increased logging, the availability of most NTFP’s is
getting smaller. In the case of an inundation of the proposed reservoir, the availability of
NTFP’s will be reduced even more.
Because of its poor soils, the proposed resettlement area on the southern edge of the
escarpment can only produce very few NTFP’s and the potential for cultivating NTFP’s as
crops seems to be limited. Within these limits, some products may have a potential for
domestication which could be developed.
Our work has also shown the effectiveness of RRA tools in analysing the village economy, in
particular in identifying poor and wealthy families. These techniques could also be used by

the resettlement authorities. There are also some forest conservation measures which could
add to the productivity of NTFP’s.
We recommend that the resettlement authorities pursue the following options:
1 Domestication trials should be set up to investigate the potential for cultivation of
cardamom Amomum spp.), bong bark (Notaphoebe umbelliflora), ‘kheua hem’ vines
(Coscinium usitatum), paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), mak khene (Zanthoxylum
rhetsa) bamboos (various spp.) and rattans (Calamus spp.).
2 Feasibility studies should be done on the potential for developing village based processing
industries for production of (i) incense sticks from bong bark, (iii) berberine powder from
kheua hem vines, (iii) furniture from rattan canes, (iv) production of wallmats from bamboo.
Additional marketing studies on kisi resin and cardamom are also recommended.
3 Increasing participation of villagers in decision making in the future resettlement process
should be pursued through use of RRA techniques and land use planning based on villager’s
own forest blocks and boundary definitions.
4 Poor families, i.e. families with structural rice deficits, need special assistance from the
resettlement authorities. Wealth ranking should be used by the resettlement authorities to
identify needy families and proper assistance should be given to them immediately.
5 Immediate conservation measures that should be taken by the district and provincial
authorities are (i) a ban on trade in hunted animals with clear sanctions, (ii) a ban on logging
of ‘mai si’ wood (Parashorea dussaudi).

PART 3:
ANNEXES
ANNEX 1: List of all NTFP’s
ANNEX 2: Results of all ranking exercises
ANNEX 3: Results of individual household surveys
ANNEX 4: Summary wealth classes
ANNEX 5: Rapid Forest Inventory data
ANNEX 6: Village sketch maps
ANNEX 7: Pictures

Rapid Forest Inventory Data
in 3 villages
1 Ban Nakai neua
We walked for 30 minutes through dry dipterocarp forest and two hours in evergreen forest along the
foot mountains to the south west of village with a group men and women. We had lunch in the forest
(huay na kai )and we walked back to village, total six hours . The villagers have showed our team the
important areas for collecting non - timber forest products (NTFP ) as well as the village’s forest
protected area. When we reached the forest our team has observed and made forest block descriptions.
The dry dipterocarp forest (pa kok ) is called “khok sida”. Dominant species are:
Dipterocarpus obtusifolius ‘Mai sad’,
Pinus spp ‘Mai pek’,
Irvingia harmandiana ‘Mai bok’,
Anisoptera chochinchinensis, ‘Mai bak’,
Cratoxylon formosum ,‘Mai tieo som’.
The villagers collect NTFP’s such as : mushroom ‘het’, Curcuma spp ‘Dok ka chieo’and some
wildlife.This area has a sandy soil , crown cover of the forest is 20% and soil cover is 20%,The height
of the main trees is 25 m , and DBH is 30 cm .
The evergreen forest (pa dong dip ) is we visited is callled “ dong houay sod”. This forest is
dominated by main species such as:
Shorea harmandii, ‘mai khen kha yom’,
Dipterocarpus alatus , “Mai nyang”,
Parashorea dussaudii , “Mai si”
Bambusa tulda ,“Maibong”,
Anisoptera cochinchinensis, “Mai bak”,
Hopea ferrea ,“Mai khen”.
The villagers`collect NTFP’s in this area as:
“kisi”, resin of Shorea and Parashorea,
“bong” bark, Notaphoebe umbelliflora,
“san” Raphis sp.,
“boun”, Daemonorops schmidtiana,
cardamom “mak neng”, Amomum ovoideum,
“pidin” Globba spp,
“mai sod”, Oxytenanthera pavifolia,
mushrooms, “Het”,
“kheua hem”, Coscinium usitatum,
“chouang hom, Cinnamonum litseaefolium,”,
wildlife.
This area has a very good dark soil. Crown cover of the forest is 80% and soil cover is 100%, The
average height of trees is 30m and DBH is 60 cm ,
We estimated the density of ”mai si”, Parashorea dussaudi, to be 100 trees per hectare and bamboo
10,000 clumps per hectare (10,000cl/ha) and 1 clump per 35 culms on average. This area is a forest
protected area of nakai village.
2 Ban Sop Phen
We went across the Nam Theun river, then we walked into the dense forest ( Dong huay ka ek) to the
east of the village .We walked inside the forest for have done rapid forest inventories about 4 hours

and walked back again, total six hours has lunch in the village.We were accompanied by a group men
only.
The evergreen forest is dominated by important species and main species of Non-timber forest
products as :
Dipterocarpus alatus ( Maiyang ),
Mai khai so ( ? ),
Anisoptera robusta (Mai bak),
Pinus species ( Mai pek ).
The villagers collect the following NTFP’s:
Daemonorops schmidtiana ( Boun ),
Raphis sp.(sane),
Oxytenanthera albociliata(Noh mai lai),
Amomum ovoideum ( Mak neng ),
Shorea resin (Kisi ),
Cinnamomum litseaefolium
(Mai chuang ),
Bong bark ( peuak bong ),
Coscinium usitatum (kheua hem ),
Calamus spp ( Wai thoon),
Mushroom ( Het ),
Helminthostachys zeylanica ( Hak tin houng ).
The crown cover in this forest was 70%, soil cover 100%; average tree height 40 m., DBH 70 cm., the
soil is good, dark.
3 Ban Thalang
With the car we drove to the forest along the logging road , about 17 km , west of the village .We
walked there and did rapid forest inventories, about 2 hours.And had lunch in the evergreen forest and
back again to ban thalang by car . Total duration of the trip: six hours.
The evergreen forest is dominated by main species as:
Pinus spp “Mai pek”,
Parashorea dussaudii “Mai si”,
Pometia eximia “mai ching dong”
Dipterocarpus alatus “Mai yang”,
Hopea
odorata “Mai khen”
Irvingia harmandiana “Mai bok”
Anisoptera cochinchinensis “Mai bak”
The villagers collect NTFP’s here such as:
Alpinia conchigera “kha pa”,
Coscinium usitatum “kheua hem”
Bong bark, “peuak bong”
Bao(tubers) “hua bao”
Cinnamomum litseaefolium “Mai chouang”
Daemonorops schmidtiana “Boun”
Raphis sp.“san”
Livistona cochinchinensis,“Bai kho”
Calamus sp“wai thoon”
Shorea resin“kisi”
Amomum ovoideum “Mak neng”
Strychnos spp “kheua ka thok or kheua seng beua”

Bambusa arundinacea“No mai phai pa”
Oxytenanthera albociliata “No mai lai”
Bambusa tulda “No mai bong”
Neohouzeaua mekongensis
“No mai kasen”
Thyrsostachyum sp
“No mai the or No mai he”
Mushroom “hed”
Eugenia zeylanica“Phak sa mek”
Careya sphaerica“Phak ka done”
Cratoxylon fomosum “Phak tieo som”
wildlife.
Most of the forest has been logged since 1978 upto now and many old logging trails remain. The
average DBH (Diameter at breast height) of main tree is 40 cm and the height is 25 m. Crown cover of
the forest is 60 % and soil cover is 100% .
“Mais si”, Parashorea dussaudii is the dominant species in this area. It is very important for the
villagers, being the mains source of kisi resin. The average density of “mai si” was 500 trees per
hectare,but logging is being carried out here so these densities will soon be lower.

ANNEX 7:
Pictures
1: Ranking exercise with group of men
2: Ranking exercise with group of women
3: Forest walk (Ban Khone Kene)
4: Selling of rattan shoots (Nakai)
5: Rattan canes “vai thoun”, Calamus sp.
6: Fresh cardamom (Amomum sp.)
7: Large pieces of “kisi” damar resin (Parashorea sp.)
8: Export of “kisi” damar resin by truck
9: Logging of ‘mai si’, Parashorea spp., is the main
threat to future availablility of “kisi”damar resin.
10: ‘hak tin houng’ fern, Helminthostachys zeylanica
11: fresh mushrooms from the forest
12: ‘kheua hem’ vines, Coscinium usitatum