Community Participation in Laongam Production Forest Management Saravane Province Lao PDR

Abstract

The objectives of the study were:  1) to determine the socio-economic conditions and forest resource utilization of people residing around production forest, 2) to determine the level of participation and factors related to people participation in Laongam production forest management. The 121 people living in Dongmone and Nongpho villages, Wapy district, Saravane province, Lao PDR were surveyed as the sample for the study. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed by computer program. The arithmetic mean, percentage, standard deviation and chi-square value were used as analytical statistics at a statistical significance level of 0.05.

 The results of the study revealed that the majority of the respondents were male and had graduated at the primary school level with an average age of 43.20 years; they were married and lived with their wives together as a couple with an average of six household members. Agriculture was the main occupation and general employment was the minor occupation; the annual household income was 26,357.02 baht and the average annual household expenditure was 24,158.93 baht.  The average land holding was 18.88 rai per household and land utilization was mostly used as paddy field. A problem relevant to land use was a shortage of irrigation water. Timber cutting for house building and household use averaged 4.45 m³ per year and the average amount of firewood used was 6 m³ per household per year. Moreover, the average amounts of bamboo shoots, mushrooms, Melientha suasis Pierre, wild fruits and edible insects collected annually per household were 38.77, 18.68, 14.76, 9.62 and 9.2 kg, respectively. Most respondents earned more income after participating in the project. Problems and obstacles identified were the decrease in forest area and the reduction in nontimber forest products (NTFP) such as honey and rattan. In addition, villagers had no spare time to participate in the relevant productive forest management activities. A related recommendation was that extension conservation should be expanded and a public relations program should be conducted on productive forest information. Based on the hypothesis test, gender and education level were highly significant (P < 0.05) factors relating to people participation in productive forest management.

Analysis of participation in production forest management found that 63.83% participated in planning, 59.41% participated in provided activities and 44.93% participated in monitoring and evaluation.                                                                                                             

Keywords: Community Participation, Production Forest Management, Lao PDR.