Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. ῐΐ, No. ῐ, March ῎ῌ῍ῌ

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

T6@6> Yasuhiro* and Thanongsone S>7DJC=:J6C<**

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 ῎ῌῌῌ, with the spread of marketoriented agriculture and the implementation of land use zoning, fallow areas suitable forgrazing have been squeezed leading to a conflict between grazers and cultivators. Local
government 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 grazers
sold off their water buffaloes to traders. This is compounded by another incentive thatpushes them to sell off their buffaloes: the development of buffalo meat distribution
mechanisms. The demand for meat has risen steadily in densely populated areas where
many 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 ῎ῌῌῑ. 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 villagers
to continue to graze water buffaloes in both traditional and innovative ways.
Keywords: water buffalo, grazing, fallow, land use, conflict, distribution, migration

I

Introduction

In recent years, market-oriented production systems have started to replace customary
subsistence-oriented diversified livelihoods in contemporary Laos which has seen it
become a land-linked country in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

People living in

northern Laos near the Laos-China international border have been experiencing thischange on a daily basis and are presently faced with options about whether to take a riskof pursuing short-term benefits to adjust to the market economy or to maintain theirrural lifestyles including water buffalo grazing. Having these options at hand, theireconomic interests have divided and this differentiation has become a source of conflictῌῑ῎῏ῐῌ Faculty of Letters, Otani University, Koyamakamifusa, Kita, Kyoto ῒῌ῏῍῔῍ῐ῎,Japane-mail: takaiyas῍res.otani.ac.jp
ῌῌInformation and Documentation Center (IDC), Lao National Academy of Social Sciences(NASS)451ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏῎ ῑamong them especially when concerned with their common resource land use management used previously for both swidden agriculture and water buffalo grazing. This
paper aims to describe the processes of change of the local economy and its impacts onwater buffalo grazing practices, to identify consequent conflicts among rural societies,
and to examine the emerging vulnerability of the livelihood.
According to official statistics data, the number of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)in Laos has ranged from about  to  head between  and  [NSC

:  ; MAF  : ], while the national population estimates numbered   
persons in  [NSC : ]. Thus, on average, there is approximately one water
buffalo kept per five persons in Laos. In the northern provinces, where this case study
was undertaken, the number of water buffaloes was fewer than the central and southern
provinces.

Nonetheless, water buffaloes were commonly grazed by villagers as animportant component of their livelihoods, particularly in the lowland areas along rivers
and streams, until around  .
This paper introduces data collected in three provinces in northern Laos. First, we
describe why and how villagers graze water buffaloes, focusing on grazers’ decisionmaking processes. Secondly, we pay attention to the rapid decrease in the number ofwater buffaloes in the lowland areas of northern Laos.

This paper explores these

dynamics within the socio-economic background of the study area.
Official figures for the national and provincial water buffalo population have notshown any drastic changes over the past  years. However, information provided by
local people, including village headmen, officers and traders, suggests that the number ofwater buffaloes has fallen sharply in the rural villages near the main roads between local
cities and towns of northern Laos, starting around  .
The analysis presented here focuses on the growing conflict between grazers andcultivators and how this has brought about a decline in water buffalo numbers. The
essence of this livestock-agriculture conflict is centered on a lack of grazing areas, as theimplementation of land use zoning and the rapid expansion of commercial agriculture
have squeezed the fallow lands previously used for grazing. Since the s, there has
been an expansion in the area under rainy-season cash crops in lowlands and foothills
along the main roads.

For example, hybrid corn provided by Thai and Vietnamesemerchants has become popular in Oudomxay province. This corn is purchased by themerchants and sold at either Chinese markets by way of Mo Han or Vietnamese markets
accessed through Dien Bien Phu.

During this same period, dry-season paddy andvegetable cultivation has also expanded in the irrigated lowland areas.
On the other hand, since the end of the s, the local government has started to
implement land use zoning and land use planning based on the  Forest Law. The
intent of these policy directions was to promote both forest conservation and thedevelopment of a market economy in agriculture. In order to do this, a clear distinction
between forest conservation areas and agricultural development areas was deemed452

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculturenecessary. According to plans, forest lands are divided into several categories but noforest is allocated for swidden agriculture [Yokoyama ῎ῌῌῐ: ῍῏῏]. As will be discussed in
more detail below, young fallow in the swidden cycle is a suitable place for grazing water
buffaloes. Fallow areas have decreased as swidden agriculture has been severely limitedby land zoning and land use planning, and villagers have chosen to graze their water
buffaloes and cattle in areas adjacent to agricultural fields resulting in a conflict withfarming activities.
The analysis presented here is based on primary data gathered during the authors’
field research in Oudomxay, Luang Phabang and Luang Nam Tha provinces, conductedfrom ῎ῌῌ῏ to ῎ῌῌῑ. Figs. ῍ and ῎ show the locations of studied villages, towns and cities.
The next two sections introduce grazing practices in one of the study villages during theperiod of low conflict, and how those practices changed as conflict increased.

Fig. ῌ Cities and Towns in Northen Laos
Source: Created by the authors453῔῕῎῏῎ῒῑ ῐ  ΐFig. ῌ Research Sites
Source: Created by the authors

II Use of Water Buffalo in the Study Village
Na Savang, an administrative village in Na Mo district of Oudomxay province, is our
main field research site in this study.) The village, also known locally by its former name,Ban Ay, is located in the Nam Phak River basin near the border between Laos and China.
Most of the villagers identify themselves as Yang or Tai Yang, an ethnic category within
the Tai-Kadai ethno-linguistic group that includes the lowland Lao and other Tai-Laogroups. The Yang have been heavily influenced by the culture of the Tai Lue, the Yang
adopted Theravada Buddhists traditions, who have inhabited the area for generations.)ῌ Official data on the composition of households in terms of ethnic group show that theethnic Lao are not the majority group in most of the provinces of northern Laos. In
Oudomxay province, for example, ῍ of the /  population was Khmu, while Lue,
Hmong and Lao were   ῍,  ῍,  ῍ respectively [NSC  ].
ῌ According to ethno-linguistic classification, the Yang is a small group of the Tai family.
They inhabit northern Laos, northern Vietnam and southern Yunnan. Na Savang villagers
came more than two hundred years ago from northern Vietnam to their present location,
which was an ancient Lue territory that had been abandoned [Chazée  : ].
454

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

Na Savang (or Ay) has a comparatively large area of flat lands, so most of thevillagers cultivate paddy in the rainy season and many of them can produce enough rice
to satisfy their own consumption needs. Besides agriculture, they go fishing, hunting for
insects and wild animals and gathering edible plants in the surrounding area for daily
dietary needs.
Villagers had limited opportunity to exchange agricultural or forest products withoutsiders for money or other articles until the s. Since around , when the roadbetween Na Mo district town and the Meo Jay border crossing was completed, interactions with small traders or peddlers from other places in northern Laos and China haveincreased.
Domestic animals, including large livestock and poultry, were an important part ofvillage livelihoods throughout the period of transition from a more self-sufficient peasanteconomy to a mixed commercial-subsistence economy after completion of the road.
Villagers preferred not to slaughter and consume their animals for several reasons. First,
large livestock and poultry offered opportunities for exchange with outsiders for moneyor other articles. Second, buffalo meat, pork and chicken were valuable in preparing
feasts for guests that formed the basis of mutual exchange in Lao peasant society. These
feasts were held on such occasions as agricultural labor exchanges, life passage rituals
and village festivals. Furthermore, buffalo meat, pork or chicken were also offered tovarious spirits such as the guardian spirit of the village.
Na Savang villagers used to raise water buffaloes, cattle, pigs and chicken mainly inor around their village or fields. According to Matsuura’ s field survey data in , thevillagers owned water buffaloes more than cattle or pigs and the number of water
buffaloes was more than double the number of households (see Table  ) [Matsuura ].
About  percent of the surveyed households possessed water buffaloes, at about  headper buffalo owner’s household.
In addition to Na Savang, livestock data from Na Mo Tay village, located in a
Table ῌNa Savanga)

Village







The Number of Livestock in Studied Villages (῍ )(unit: head)

Na Mo Tayb)

BuffaloCattlePig

BuffaloCattle

Pig


 

 








 
ῌ
 







ῌ



ῌ

ῌ
ῌ


ῌ



Source: The Data of Na Savang () were surveyed by Miki Matsuura (Graduate School of Asianand African Area Studies, Kyoto University at that time) [Matsuura ]. The others
were from the village-head men of each village.
Note: a)Na Savang village was composed of   households in .
b)
Na Mo Tay village was composed of  households in . Most of the villagers were thenon-Buddhist Yang.
455ΐ῔῍῎῍ῑῐ ῐΐ῏ ῐ ῒriverside area along the main road is presented (see Table ῍ and Fig. ῎ ). Na Mo Tay isalso a Tai Yang village that grows wet rice, yet in comparison to Na Savang, Na Mo Tay
villagers were less well-off, with smaller residential sites and agricultural fields. The
villagers owned many water buffaloes but no cattle in ῎ῌῌῐ.
Among the large livestock and poultry, Na Savang villagers looked upon water
buffaloes as the most valuable and useful livestock. First, water buffaloes were necessary
for most of the villagers for cultivating paddy fields before hand tractors started to be
used in the second half of the ῍῕῕ῌs. Water buffaloes were also used for transporting
agricultural products. Second, even after hand tractors became popular, the villagers
continued to keep water buffaloes as their most valuable fungible asset, as they can beexchanged for either a large amount of money or goods if necessary. The males were soldor slaughtered by the villagers at feasts as the most valuable and tasty dish.῏) The
females were kept, because the full aged animals produce offspring each year or two,
thereby increasing the villages’ assets. Third, villagers could reduce weeding labor in andaround the fields and the village because water buffaloes efficiently grazed on the weeds,
and additionaly their dung could be used as an effective manure for their paddy crop.
Water buffaloes were multi-functional livestock essential in maintaining thevillagers’ way of life. Until around ῎ῌῌῒ, the younger generation of village members
maintained these animal husbandry practices in accordance with their cultural andeconomic norms.
Na Savang villagers used to inherit water buffaloes and cattle from their parents,
who would normally pass on their animals to their sons and daughters equally. This canbe best illustrated by the story of a ῑ῔-year old man and his family in ῎ῌῌΐ. He had
inherited a water buffalo from his foster parents who had eight water buffaloes, while hiswife inherited no water buffaloes from her parents. After the inheritance, they grazed theanimals which subsequently produced offspring. They bought small Lao native cattle
and grazed them, as well. Male offspring were sold when there was a need, and one malewater buffalo was slaughtered for a feast for their first son’s and the second son’s
marriages respectively. By the time the informant had turned ῑῑ, they owned ΐ water
buffaloes and ῍ῌ cattle. They divided them among his seven children, as can be seen in
Table ῎. In the next section, we describe how the villagers graze water buffaloes.
῏ῌ For example, Na Savang village and Khwang Kham village have a custom that the twovillages slaughter a water buffalo jointly and villagers share the meat and drink liquors
with their friends and neighbors on each precept day’s eve called mue hang or mue daduring the Buddhist Lent. Besides this custom, Na Savang villagers eat water buffalo meatat wedding parties and housewarming parties. They also eat it after sacrificing to theguardian spirits of Mueang Ay and the village every year. (In the old meaning, the mueang
was a ritual or political unit binding local communities as villages.) They customarily haveparties to eat the meat also during the kin tiang new year and the Mahasat Jataka Festival.
Several villagers told us that it was a taboo for Na Savang villagers to eat beef during theBuddhist Lent because a cow was a foster mother of the Buddha in their local Jataka tales.
456

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture
Table ῌInheritance of Water Buffalo, Cattle and Paddy Field: A Case of a Villager in Na
Savang in ῎ῌῌῐChildren Sex Age
M
῍
M
῎
F
῏
F
ῐ
M
ῑ
F
ῒ
F
ΐ
parents

῏ῒ
῏῎
῎῔
῎῔
῎ῐ
῍῔
῍ΐ

MaritalStatusFeast atMarriagemarried῍ male buffalo
married῍ male buffalo
marriednonmarriednonunmarried ῌ
unmarried ῌ
unmarried ῌ

Residence

Inheritance Inheritance Inheritanceof Buffalo
of Cattle Paddy Field

with parents ῎ females
married out ῎ females
married out ῌ
adopted out ῌa)with parents ῍ female
with parents unfixedwith parents unfixed
῍ femaleb)῍ female῍ female῍ femaleῌ῍ femaleunfixedunfixedῒ females

inheritinheritῌῌ
inheritc)
ῌῌ

Source: Surveyed and interviewed by the authors
Note: a) The third and fourth children were twins, so the latter was handed over to the adoptive
parents. She already received a female buffalo and a female cattle from the adoptive
parents.
b) The parents kept a female water buffalo and six female cattle with them at the divisionin ῎ῌῌῐ. They told us they would like to give the sixth and seventh children two female
cattle each in the near future but the inheritance was unfixed. They also told us theywould give water buffalo’s calves to their younger children when a water buffalo gavebirth.
c) The parents held one hectare of paddy fields which were not divided among their threesons in ῎ῌῌῐ. The parents told us they would give the fields to their sons after the third
son’s marriage.

III Water Buffalo Grazing and Fallow LandIn rural areas of northern Laos, land remaining fallow after the harvest of both paddy
and swidden agriculture is used for grazing water buffaloes.
In ῎ῌῌῒ, many of Na Savang villagers cultivated paddy in the rainy season only andafter the rice harvest in November or December, whereby villagers allowed their water
buffaloes to graze in and around their own fallow paddy fields during the daytime.
Before it got dark, water buffaloes returned to their owner’s remote seasonal cottage or to
nearby their paddy fields, where they were hitched to the pillars underneath the cottage,and given rice straw which was stocked there.ῐ)
Water buffaloes were allowed to move together freely across each owner’s field, andthe animals tended to move in groups. Each group had a few leaders which had reachedfull age.ῑ) In February, the owner let male buffaloes mate with the females naturally.

ῐῌ For example, the rice straw of a popular traditional breed called Khao Ta Kiat is about ῍῎ῌcentimeters long and a traditional breed called Khao Hok’s straw is about ῍ῒῌ centimeterslong.
ῑῌ The villagers call the leaders huana hung khway (the leader of water buffalo group), mae
phueng (the mother of group) or mae nyai (big mother) in Tai or Lao. In most cases, theleaders are females about five to twelve years old. According to the villagers, the females ῌ457ΐ῔῍῎῍ῑῐ ῏ῑ῏ ῏ ῒEven if an owner has females only, he could expect his females to get pregnant because
there were always a few males in or around his water buffaloes’ group.ῐ)After half a year’s grazing on the fallow paddy fields, they plowed, harrowed
and leveled the fields using their water buffaloes in May, June or July until the middleof the ῍ΐΐῌs.

However, most villagers cultivated their fields with hand tractors in῎ῌῌῐ.
When rice transplanting had started, the owners, their sons or sons-in-law lettheir water buffaloes move from the paddy fields to the forest area (poy pa).ῑ) According
to villagers, pa lao ῌ grass field, bush or young woods that have been fallowed
for between one and four years after swidden cultivation ῌ are appropriate forgrazing lands. ῒ ) The grazers selected points near streams or ponds where plants suchas Panicum notatum (nya nyung), Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv. (nya kha) or bamboos
grew in bunches and let their water buffaloes graze in these areas during the wet rice
planting season.
Na Savang villagers’ cattle grazing practices differ from water buffalo. Although thevillagers allowed Lao native cattle to graze on fallowed paddy fields during the dry
season, they do not release cattle into the forest during the rainy season. Rather, theychoose to keep cattle near the village throughout the year, as they believe it is bad for
cattle to get wet. Furthermore, cattle require less grass than water buffaloes, so they canbe kept nearer to the house where villagers can keep a closer watch on them. This is incontrast to water buffaloes, which are believed to be well-adapted to the more naturalenvironment of the forest.
Since the ῍ΐΐῌs, people grazing water buffaloes have formed several small, informalgroups in order to manage their livestock during the rainy season when they move intoῌare able to move in a group, though the full aged males have difficulty living together. So
the groups tended to be composed of full aged females and calves.
ῐῌ In some villages, we were told that they did not castrate the males at all, though in othervillages, including Na Savang the males aged over about six years old were castrated
because the villagers perceived un-castrated elder males tended to become thin and hottempered trouble makers. Na Savang villagers told us that they kept the males underabout five-year-old un-castrated because the younger males are useful for breeding.
ῑῌ The word poy is used in contrast with the word liang which carries the meaning to feed,take care, keep, and domesticate. The former means to set the water buffalo free all day
long, while the latter includes part-time grazing during the dry season, as mentioned above.
The word pa means forest, woods, bush and grass fields in contrast with the word na(paddy field) and hai (swidden). The former is land left under semi-wild or fallow conditions, while the latter is land that is managed by humans, and kept under artificial conditions.
ῒῌ The word pa lao is used in opposition to the words pa kae and pa dong. Pa kae means aged
fallow forest, of more than about five years after swidden harvest. Pa dong means naturalforest and deep fallow forest many years after the last swidden agriculture. In many cases,
water buffaloes do not enter into these kinds of forest, because of a shortage of edible
under grass and young trees.

458

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

the forest.῔)
As mentioned above, the water buffaloes grazing in the adjacent plots of a fallow
paddy area tended to form groups naturally during the dry season in ῎ῌῌῒ. In many cases,
the owners of the water buffaloes grouping together in the dry season formed a rainyseason buffalo management group. The core members of this group tended to be a closepartilineal descent group members who often have paddy lands and residential sites close
to each other, as according to local practice, these lands were passed on from parents tosons, which contrasts to the more equitable inheritance of livestock among both sons anddaughters.῍ῌ) There were, however, several cases in which daughters inherited plots fromtheir parents when the parents had large land or the daughters’ husbands had little hopeof inheriting land from their own parents.῍῍)Each grazing group used the forests of the upper or lower reaches of a stream near
the grazers’ paddy field and moved along the stream. Each group was thus known by thestream’s name, such as the Hoy Stream Line Group (khum say huay hoy), and the Nam Lao
River ῌ Mixay Line Group (khum say nam lao mixay), and so forth. The Nam Phak RiverLine Group (khum say nam phak) is introduced below.
In ῎ῌῌῒ, the Nam Phak River Line Group was composed of nine water buffalo’ owners
with all members residing in the same settlement in the village. Each owner had ῍ to ῑ
water buffaloes with a total of ῏῍ water buffaloes in the group.
During the dry season, the members allowed their water buffaloes to graze in thefallow paddy fields called Na Ma and Na Luang (see Figs. ῏ and ῐ ). The eight members
had their plots in these fields (Fig. ῐ ). Fig. ῑ represents their kin relationships.
Among the members, Mr. S had no plots in the Na Ma- Na Luang fields but owned
two plots in other paddy fields. One of his plots was located near May Na Tao (a Khmu
village) and the villagers allowed their animals to graze in the plot with his consent.῍῎)Another plot belonging to Mr. S was used by the owner of a neighboring plot for grazing.
The field where these plots were located were not large enough to accommodate a large

῔ῌ The members told us the local government officers advised them to organize the co-grazing
groups, but they also explained to us that their groups were organized customarily before
the advice was given.
῍ῌῌ The members who descended from the same patrilineal ancestor called each other takun
diao kan. They tend to use their surname which include the same word showing thisrelationship.
῍῍ῌ For example, Mr. D inherited no pieces of land from his parents, so the parents of Mr. D’swife gave a plot of them to her. Mr. K’s mother also inherited land from her parents for thesame reason (see Fig. ῑ ).
῍῎ῌ The Khmu, Kmhmu’, Kamhmu or Kammu belong to the Mon-Khmer family of theAustroasiatic speakers, according to the ethno-linguistic classification. The Khmu are oneof the original inhabitants of the Indochinese region, having lived here since before thearrival of other non-Mon-Khmer people. In old times, the Lao and Thai people called themby the name Kha which meant slave [Simana ῍῔῔ΐ: ῍῍῎].
459ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῍῎῎ ῍ ῑFig. ῌ Water Buffalo Grazing Routes
Source: Created by the authors

number of buffaloes grazing jointly, so Mr. S grazed his five buffaloes in the Na Ma field
during the day and hitched them to the posts on the mountainside nearby during thenight. This was done with the owners’ consent, and demonstrates a case of the cooperation and compromise in using paddy fallow among the grazers during the dry season.
When the villagers started paddy transplanting, some or all members of the Nam
Phak River Line Group encouraged a few water buffalo leaders to walk out of the paddy
fields toward the eastern forest area along the Nam Phak River (see Fig. ῌ ). The rest of
the water buffaloes followed the leaders. The grazing area was located around the village
border between Na Savang and Huay Lak (a Khmu village). Group members followed
their water buffaloes and guided them to a suitable grazing area. After reaching thispoint, an elder male member performed an offering to the local spirits to ask for help
ensuring the safety and good health of their buffaloes. After the offering, the members
left their animals and returned home.
During the rainy season, the members walked into the forest area usually once every
several days in order to check their water buffaloes. This was done by rotating groupmembers, and they usually took a handful of salt in order to catch their interest. After460

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

Fig. ῌ

Paddy Field Plots of Nam Phak River Line Group’s Members in
Na Ma-Na Luang area in ῍ῌῌ῎

Source: Created by the authors using Takashi Kotegawa’s Field Data
Map

Fig. ῍ Kin Relationship among Nam phak River Line Group’s members in ῍ῌῌ῎
Source: Field survey by the authors461ΐ῔῍῎῍ῑῐ ῏ῐ῏ ῏ ῒthey found them, they inspected their bodies carefully and treated any injuries orillnesses with medicinal plants in the forest as necessary.῍῎) In any case, the person on
duty had to report the conditions of each water buffalo to its owner. Before water
buffaloes ate all the grass in the area, they were moved to a new spot. During the days
when rice plants were in flower and they began to seed, the grazers moved water
buffaloes to an area far from paddy and swidden fields and after the rice was harvested,water buffaloes were allowed to go back to paddy fields.
Na Savang villagers customarily graze water buffaloes as a component of theirtraditional livelihood, together with farming, fishing, hunting and gathering using boththe fallow of both paddy and swidden fields for grazing. In this way, they are able toreduce the time and labor needed for feeding and weeding. Villagers prefer to graze
water buffaloes and cattle freely, rather than resort to other options for more productive,
low-risk grazing, despite damage they sustain from parasites, poisonous plants, wild
beasts and injuries incurred during forest grazing.

This is partially based on thethoughtful and restrained interactions among the members of local communities, where
villagers, including both grazers and cultivators, cooperate closely with kin and neighbors to translate generalized norms of reciprocity into specific arrangements for managing natural resources.

IV Selection of Grazing Area and Latent Conflict
The annual calendar of water buffalo grazing mentioned above, however, shows thelatent conflict between agriculture and livestock. Grazers must control water buffaloes
to avoid damage to paddy rice and swidden crops as when conflict points flare up, thegrazers are urged to change their grazing areas. This happened in Na Savang several
times in the ῍ῒῒῌs, which will be described in the following section below.
Until the ῍ῒῑῌs, Na Savang villagers used to let all of their water buffaloes move out
to the southern areas called the Pa Nong Yueng Forest and the upper reaches of the Huay
Khway Stream during the rainy season, because the fallow areas near Na Savang were
not large enough to cater for the needs of their water buffaloes (Fig. ῎ ).῍῏) The grazing
areas were located in the territory of the White Hmong village named Phou Li. During
grazing, Na Savang grazers used to go into forest grazing areas to check their water῍῎ῌ For example, a Na Savang grazer told us that he mixed Mercurochrome, lime and hot
pepper and applied the concoction to the bite from a venomous snake. In addition to thegrazers’ daily care, veterinarians of the local government visit Na Savang to vaccinate
water buffaloes against parasite diseases twice a year, for the buffaloes grazing in theforest are at high risk of getting the diseases.
῍῏ῌ Nong Yueng means swamp or damp ground which never dries up. Huay Khway meanswater buffalo stream.
462

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculturebuffaloes once every week or two. After the paddy rice harvest, they would let theirwater buffaloes back into their fallow paddy fields.
In contrast, Phou Li villagers used to let their water buffaloes and Lao native cattle
move to the Mt. May Ko area during the rainy season, and let them move to the upper
reaches of the Huay Khway Stream or the Huay Phou Li Stream during the dry season(Fig. ῏ ). However, Phou Li villagers had no paddy fields and cultivated swidden fields in
the Pa Nong Yueng Forest during the rainy season.
In those days, it appeared that Phou Li villagers were tolerant of the Na Savang
grazing in their village territory.

They gave permission to allow about ῏ῌῌ water

buffaloes from Na Savang to move into the Pa Nong Yueng Forest and the upper reachesof the Huay Khway Stream every rainy season. In addition to Na Savang grazers, Khmu
people from Huay Hok village also grazed about ῍ῌῌ water buffaloes in the Pa Nong
Yueng Forest and the upper reaches of the Huay Phou Li Stream (Fig. ῏ ).
But many of Na Savang grazers have shifted their grazing points back to their own
village lands in the early ῍῕῕ῌs when Phou Li villagers became intolerant to Na Savang
villagers’ grazing. According to the ex-village headmen of both Na Savang and Phou Li,
the village-border was delineated in the early ῍῕῕ῌs. Villagers related some trouble cases
whereby Phou Li cultivators shot at water buffaloes owned by Na Savang villagers to
express their discontent when their animals ate their agricultural products. The exvillage headman of Phou Li commented on the troubles that it was natural that thecultivators had a right to get meat if the grazer did not pay any form of compensation.
What this scenario suggests is that the growing consciousness of the exclusive ownership of village territory and the commercial value of agricultural products might havemade the villagers intolerant.῍ῑ)
After the withdrawal from the Pa Nong Yoeng Forest, most of Na Savang villagers
continued to allow their water buffaloes to graze in several areas around their village
during the rainy season between ῍῕῕ῌ and ῎ῌῌ῔ as mentioned above. Each area was notlarge, so they had to subdivide their water buffaloes’ group into smaller sizes.
Additionally, it has also become more difficult to graze animals in the fallow paddy
during the dry season every year, as since the ῍῕῕ῌs, farmers have started growing
off-season vegetables after the rice harvest. Several land owners in the Na Ma ῌ Na
Luang fields have also being trying to grow various kinds of market-oriented agricultural products, such as watermelon, in the fields during the dry season. They have had
to fence their plots to keep the animals out.
῍ῑῌ In ῎ῌῌῐ and ῎ῌῌῑ, most Phou Li villagers moved to a new site near the Nong Yueng pond,
following the local government’s advice, because the new site was located near their agricultural fields and on the new road through this area. Cash-cropping has become popularamong them since ῎ῌῌῐ. They left about ῎ῌ water buffaloes and ῑῌ cattle in their pasturesite near their old settlement in ῎ῌῌΐ. According to them, they reduced the number by half
after migration. In ῎ῌῌΐ, the population was ῎ῒ῔ persons in total ῐ῎ households.
463ΐ῔῍῎῍ῑῐ ῐΐ῏ ῐ ῒIn ῎ῌῌΐ, a member of the Nam Phak River Line Group told us that he kept his plot in
the Na Ma field in order to let his water buffaloes graze during the dry season. He grewwatermelons in his remaining plot in another field. However, another member of thegroup told us it became difficult for water buffaloes to graze in the Na Ma field. He
subsequently moved his dry season grazing area out of the field.
Despite the Na Savang grazers’ constant attempts to adapt to the changing conditions by shifting their grazing areas around, in the end many of them would abandon
their husbandry efforts. In the next sections we describe how the growing sense of
conflict led to a prohibition against free grazing in Luang Nam Tha and Oudomxay
provinces, which ultimately brought about a decline in the number of water buffaloes inthese areas.

V

Deepening Conflict and the Decline in Water Buffalo Grazing

The conflict between grazers and cultivators has been a real problem since around ῎ῌῌῌ.
Damages from grazing animals are regularly reported to the village headman, whotypically acts as a mediator between the grazer and the cultivator who sustained damage.
A set of mediation rules has emerged and is regularly applied. In cases where the victim’s
guard fence was prepared well, the grazer must pay the same amount of rice as thedamage. If the fence was not well-prepared, the grazer would be partly excused fromcompensation.῍ῒ) Around ῎ῌῌῌ, many village headmen began to advise villagers to set up
barbed-wire fences around their agricultural fields to keep the animals out.
The above-mentioned prohibition of swidden agriculture and the spread of cashcropping have been a source of tension with regards to livestock management. However,in more recent years, the boom in rubber planting in the hillside areas along the main
roads has served to exacerbate these tensions. In northern Laos, rubber planting started
in Luang Nam Tha province in the middle of the ῍῔῔ῌs. Some of the pioneer planters havealready begun to reap large benefits in the form of cash income from latex sales. These
success stories spread rapidly among the communities of the area, offering farmers an
attractive alternative crop. Since around ῎ῌῌῑ, rubber planting, both in plantations andsmall holder plots, has reached unprecedented proportions.
In many cases, the upland rice and other cash crops are planted among the young
rubber saplings that have been planted in the swidden fields. But in the third year, as thetree canopy begins to close, the fields give way to rubber mono-cropping. Planters can
expect to start tapping the trees for latex in the eighth year, and can normally sustain
collection for approximately ῏ῌ years.
῍ῒῌ In cases whereby a group of water buffaloes or cattle owned by several grazers havedamaged the crops, each of them should share the burden of compensation according to thenumber of the holdings.
464

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Water buffaloes like to eat the rubber saplings, which has made the task of controlling grazing animals all the more difficult. For example, in Phou Li village, five households started to plant the rubber saplings in . In , the villagers told us that if awater buffalo had eaten a two-year-old rubber sapling, the planters would demandcompensation of  kip (about US$  or   YEN). The compensation for athree-year-old rubber sapling was  kip (about US$ ) and the compensation for a
four-year-old tree was  kip (about US$  ). These penalties were high enough todiscourage grazers from releasing their animals in the area of rubber gardens.)In addition to these local solutions, the provincial and district governments havedeveloped several measures to resolve disputes between grazers and cultivators. On one
hand, higher levels of government observed the success of local village headmen’s
prohibition against free grazing in populated areas and agricultural promotion zones.
The Luang Nam Tha provincial government supported such regulations in the Luang
Nam Tha basin around .
For example, in Done Khoune village, located in the old populated area of Luang
Nam Tha, the villagers had already fenced their paddy fields in the  s. They allowed
their water buffaloes and cattle to graze freely outside of the fenced fields during therainy season and then moved the animals into the fallow paddy fields during thepost-harvest season. In addition, the provincial government gave notice of the prohibition policy and the village committee decided not to allow their animals to graze freely
near the village in . The government did not compensate the grazers for their loss ofgrazing land, but pledged to improve the traffic and educational conditions of the village
in return.
Since , the government of Oudomxay province has also carried out this policy inmost parts of the basin and hillside areas around roads. The following case of Huay On
village near Na Mo market (see Fig.  ) illustrates how this was done. Since the  s,both cash-cropping and commercial activities developed constantly in this area. According to the villagers, the soil of this area was fertile, so many migrants arrived to cultivate
the fields and paddy, corn and rubber saplings were planted intensively by  . The
district government and the village committee jointly prohibited the villagers fromgrazing their animals freely in the area since  when the planting of rubber saplings
started to gain momentum in the area. Since  , grazers had to pay  kip fine perwater buffalo or cattle when it was found that animals were grazing in the prohibited
area, even if they did not cause any actual damage to the crops. As a result of thisregulation, the cultivators no longer need to fence their fields to keep water buffaloes andῌ The daily wage for physical labor was about  kip (about US$ ,  YEN) in Xay
city and Na Mo market’s area in . The wage was  kip in  . The daily wages ofrice transplanting and harvesting in Na Savang village were as follows: ῌ kip( ),  kip () and ῌ  kip ( ).
465ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῐΐ῎ ῐ ῑcattle out, because the grazers are responsible for the damage caused by their animals in
the prohibited areas, even if the damaged fields were not fenced.
On the other hand, the local government has been advising village headmen to fix
the grazing areas and encouraging grazers to graze their animals together in groups.
Starting in ῎ῌῌῌ, the government has left it to each village to decide whether it will
establish designated areas for grazing or not. The villages are free to determine thegrazing areas in their village, but government officers have recommended that thevillagers establish these grazing areas in mountainous areas far from the residential andagricultural areas, where rivers and thick forests provide a natural ‘fencing’ for the
animals.
In the Done Khoune village case mentioned above, the villagers decided to movetheir ῎ῌῌ water buffaloes and ῏ῌῌ cattle to a bamboo forest located about ῍ῌ kilometers
south of the village. This site was used collaboratively with two other villages for four
years. In ῎ῌῌῑ, however, villagers lost access to this forest because the provincial anddistrict governments granted a long-term lease over the area near this forest to a Chinese
rubber planting company. By ῎ῌῌ῕, the village had no fixed pasture areas, thus water
buffaloes started to disappear and only about ῑῌ cattle remained.
In Huay On village, the grazers sold about half of their animals after the prohibition
against free grazing. The number of water buffaloes decreased from over ῍ῌῌ to ῒ῎, while
the cattle decreased from ῔ῌ to ῐῌ in these five years, as well. The grazers moved most of
their remaining water buffaloes into fenced pasture sites in the mountains located inother villages and entered into collaborative land use arrangements with the local
villagers.
The cases of Yao Yay and a neighboring village named Lak ῏῎ in the eastern
mountainous area of Xay district, Oudomxay province (see Fig. ῍ ) provide more detail
information on the impact of these restrictions. Yao Yay is a White Hmong village that
migrated from Nga district in ῍῕ΐ῏ when Route No. ῍ of Oudomxay province was paved.
After settling, they allowed their animals to graze around their village freely. But thegrass around the village ran out by the end of the ῍῕῔ῌs. They consequentially moved
their animals to a hill area named Phu Nya Kha where Imperata cylindrical (L) Beauv. (nyakha) grass grew abundantly. Lak ῏῎ is also a new village along Route No. ῍ establishedin ῍῕ΐῒ. This village is composed of migrants from various ethnicities around the areasand villagers here allowed their animals to graze freely in the southern riverside areas.
But grazing became difficult as the population rapidly increased and the reclamation of
paddy land in the riverside areas progressed. Lak ῏῎ villagers and Xay district government asked Yao Yay villagers for permission to let a part of the Lak ῏῎ animals move into
the Phu Nya Kha area in ῎ῌῌ῎ and as a result of this the two villages started to jointly use
the pasture. However, after trouble arose between the herds of two villages in ῎ῌῌῐ, Yao
Yay villagers built a fence to divide their pasture area off from Lak ῏῎’s area.
Rubber planting has also become popular among the villagers since ῎ῌῌῒ. Lak ῏῎466

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

grazers moved the majority of their animals into the pasture land of Phu Nya Kha. The
implementation of the Forest Land Allocation Program, carried out with assistance fromthe Oudomxay provincial Agriculture and Forestry Division and the Xay district Agriculture and Forestry Office, helped villagers begin planting rubber saplings in ῎ῌῌῐῌῌῑ.῍ῒ)
Under the leadership of the village committee, fallow forest located in the non-protected
zones was allocated to villagers. However, rights to use plots of allocated land are
forfeited by farmers who leave the plot fallow, which provides a strong incentive forfarmers to do intensive cash crop farming or planting rubber. This also provides themwith cash to pay land tax.
As water buffalo and cattle grazing increased the pressure on the pasture area in Yao
Yay, villagers began to sense the coming crisis of grass shortage through the increase inwater buffaloes and cattle grazing on the pasture. At the same time, it seems that Lak ῏῎villagers did not grasp the actual number of animals grazing in this pasture. It seems
probable that, with different socio-cultural backgrounds, these villages were not able tocreate the type of relationship necessary for effective rules for co-management.
In contrast to these cases where villagers set out clearly defined grazing areas, Na
Savang, Na Mo Tay and Done Khoune villages already mentioned above decided not to
set fixed pastures. In these villages, villagers tended to select from the following options.
First, some of them stayed with the animals to watch over them during the day in allseasons so that they could continue grazing in the prohibited areas. The animals weretied to the post of the owner’s cottage during the night. Second, some of them tied theiranimals to poles in fields or forests with a rope long enough for them to graze widely
during the day. The animals were then tied to the poles of the cottage during the night.
This was practiced throughout the year. And third, others made an agreement to leave
their female livestock with grazers of their acquaintance in the mountainous region
outside of the prohibited area under the agreement in which grazers receive the first calf
while owners get the second one. The grazer and the owner share the offspring equallyand the mother livestock is taken back to the owner after the end of the agreement.
These arrangements were used by some villagers even in villages where grazing lands
have been established.
However, many of the animal owners expressed displeasure with the outcomes. With
the first option, grazers complained that they do not have enough time to watch over the

῍ῒῌ According to Takayuki Namura, the Forest Land Allocation Program is a set of policies asfollows: (῍) land zoning according to both the natural conditions and the purpose of using
each area, (῎) specification of management rights for each plot, (῏) definition of land use andappropriate land management practices for each plot. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, one of the purposes is to make full use the latent resource and todevelop cash cropping, afforestation and livestock grazing. Another purpose is to allow
villages to manage the forests for conservation. This program has been in operation since
the beginning of the ῍ΐΐῌs in Luang Phabang and Sayabury provinces [Namura ῎ῌῌῒ: ῎ῌῐ].
467ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῏ῒ῎ ῏ ῑanimals. This is especially because both household heads and spouses have experienced
an increase in workload with the rapid growth of cash-cropping and other economic
activities. Younger members of the family attend school, so in reality animals are cared
for by young children and the elderly, who are not appropriate for following animals into
the mountainous forests for grazing. This has meant that grazing areas have contracted
into the smaller available areas nearer to the village.
In the first and the second arrangements, villagers have to spend time on cutting andtransporting grasses which were previously eaten by water buffaloes themselves. They
must cut and carry fodder for the animals during the period of August to October, when
there is no rice straw available. This physical labor is often more strenuous than the new
economic activities. And considering that water buffaloes need more fodder than cattle,
water buffalo husbandry has become a less attractive option, as it is increasingly difficult
to meet the grazing and feeding needs of the animals. Water buffalo husbandry has
become such a burden that many have chosen to stop.
Table ῍ shows the rapid decrease in the number of water buffaloes in Na Savang and
Na Mo Tay over the period covering ῎ῌῌ῏ to ῎ῌῌΐ. In ῎ῌῌΐ, most of the members of Nam
Phak River Line Group sold their water buffaloes. Na Savang villagers have continued
raising cattle and pigs, which is done in small contained areas near the village, although
the total number of water buffaloes and cattle have decreased significantly in the past
five years. Na Mo Tay villagers now have no large domestic animals.
In the third arrangement, we witnessed several tense situations between grazers andowners. A man in Done Khoune village had ΐ water buffaloes and ῐῌ cattle in ῎ῌῌῌ. But
after the loss of pasture land in ῎ῌῌῐ, he sold all of his water buffaloes and some of his
cattle to traders. He left ΐ cattle with his friend in a village located in the mountains andleft ῔ cattle with another friend in another village. The cattle with the former friend
bred ῑ calves but all died and the ῎ female cattle also died because of the shortage of
fodder grass in his friend’s village, where rubber tree planting had become popular. Aftera year and a half, he brought his cattle back from his friend. His friend requested ῒῌῌ῕ῌῌῌ
kip as a fee for grazing the animals. The owner felt the fee was unreasonable but paid it
nonetheless so as to avoid destroying the relationship with his friend. The cattle with thelatter friend also lost weight, and two died because the water of the stream was not goodfor cattle. After two years, he took his female cattle back and equally divided the four
new-born calves with the grazer.
This kind of conflict between grazers and cultivators is reflected within the district
government as well. According to an officer of the Livestock and Fisheries Section (ofthe Department of Agriculture and Forestry), the policy direction of his section was inconformity with that of the Agriculture and Forestry Section’s direction until ῎ῌῌῌ, as the
agriculture and forestry officials appreciated livestock’s production of manure for agricultural fields. However, since ῎ῌῌῌ, the two sections’ directions have parted ways. The
Agriculture and Forestry Section’s efforts have promoted market-oriented crops that use
468

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

chemical fertilizers while excluding grazing livestock. The department supported thelatter’s direction because the increase in export revenues is important for the government
and foreign markets hold the highest potential for exporting Lao cash crops. Comparedto the cross-border trade in agricultural products, livestock trade is troublesome becauseof the concern for disease and parasites.
The Livestock and Fisheries Section is well aware of the possibility of meat shortages, in the near future and has been promoting local varieties of livestock since the s,in an effort to increase meat supply.) Some farmers responded to this by leasing cattle
to graze on land provided free of charge by the government while other farmers areexperimenting with new hybrid fodder grasses in or around their pasture areas.) These
innovations indicated farmers’ adaptive capacity, but despite advances in management
practices farmers still face serious constraints in accessing sufficient areas of land.)In the rural areas, the villagers have taken up the shift to market-oriented agriculture
with great enthusiasm, and their limited labor resources are increasingly dedicated to
cash cropping work and small-scale trading. There are wide-spread perceptions thatwater buffalo husbandry with the tasks of feeding and careful control is not a good useof precious time, and many have begun to sell off their herd. Villagers who liquidate their
herd often purchase hand tractors.) According to these people, the people dealing in thewater buffalo trade tend to act as mediators between the villagers and the shops in theῌ The Livestock section started to encourage villagers to graze Lao native cattle varieties
instead of water buffaloes since the end of the s because of the following points: ()water buffaloes are not suitable for group farming on a large scale. () The breeding of
cattle is faster and more productive than water buffalo. () Water buffalo meat poses ahigher risk of parasitic disease than beef. () Beef is more preferential than water buffalo
meat by the consumers in central Laos and foreign countries. () It is difficult for thevillagers to graze foreign hybrid cattle in the natural environment of northern Laos.
ῌ Various breeds of grass such as Panicum maximum (kinni), Paspalum, Stylosanthes
guianensis have been introduced by Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in
Luang Phabang province since the middle of the s. The project was also started in
Oudomxay province in . But according to the officer, the grass planting did not becomepopular among the villagers because they tended to suspect the grass made the soil poor.
ῌ For example, a Tai Lue farmer from Hat Pang village, Phak Ou district, Luang Phabang
province has rented  hectares of land from the government and started to grow varieties offodder grass provided by the government since  (see Fig.  ). He was the only innovator in his village. His trials were successful and he had a number of well developed livestock. But shortly after that, he found that the fodder grass supply was insufficient and hecould not find new land to expand his pasture. In  , most of the surrounding lands wereconverted to rubber tree plantation. So, he started to graze goats in his pasture, leaving his
cattle and water buffaloes to his friends who lived in the mountainous region. According
to him, the government has promoted the rubber planting rather than livestock husbandry.
ῌ Villagers of Na Savang and Na Mo Tay sold a full-aged water buffalo for   ῌ  
kip and purchased hand tractors for  ῌ   kip in ῌ . The hand tractors
they preferred to purchase had Thai-made bodies and China-made engines. According to
the village-head man of Na Savang, there were ῌ  hand tractors in the village in  .
469

ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῎῏῎ ῎ ῑmunicipal areas of Xay or Luang Nam Tha.
In summary, it has become increasingly difficult for villagers to continue keeping
water buffaloes by either grazing freely in fallow fields or other ways. This is particularly
so in villages located near roads with no fixed pasture areas. Local authorities havetightened regulations over land use in order to reduce livestock-agriculture conflicts, but
priority is given to market-oriented agricultural development over the customary rightsof grazers and potential for livestock development.
The land zoning policy has functioned to encourage and legitimize a restructuring ofland use from water buffalo grazing based on customary land use management toward
cash cropping by farmers who assert their exclusive rights on the land in which they
have invested their money and labor intensively.
The decline of water buffalo grazing indicates the break-up of customary mutual
agreement systems within a process shifting from previously diverse production systems
to a more simplified cash-cropping one proceeded by both rural villagers and governments orientating toward a market economy and international trade in the current
land-linked conditions.
In the following section, we turn to the local traders who deal in fresh buffalo meat,to highlight how the development of these distribution mechanisms is another incentivethat pushes villagers to sell off their water buffalo herds.

VI Trade in Water Buffalo and Changing Life-style
The Lao government’s policy on commercial trading has changed drastically in the past

῎ῌ years. In the early years of the socialist regime, the government dealt directly in the
trade of livestock, though after a few years, state companies took over this role from thestate, even if policy still formally recognized the government as having the central role.
Since the beginning of the ῍ῐῐῌs, private traders have reassumed an officially recognizedrole in the trade of livestock in Laos. After the open door policy was adopted, the numberof traders rapidly increased in both urban and rural areas.

Meanwhile, many statecompanies ceased their activities.
The rural villagers of northern Laos are able to choose where and to whom they sell
their livestock, based on the consideration of price differences between traders insurrounding towns and cities. For example, Na Savang villagers have sold their water
buffaloes and cattle to traders from an adjacent village named Khwang Kham, Huay On
and the municipal area of Xay district (Xay city). Traders also come from Luang Nam
Tha province and villages on the other side of the Lao-China national border. The
following discussion introduces the role of traders from Huay On, Xay city and China.

470

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VI. ῍ Huay On Village and Na Mo Market
A few Huay On villagers started to sell water buffalo meat at Na Mo market in ῍ΐΐῌ. In

῎ῌῌῐ, there were three co-business groups (ju) of the traders. The groups increased to fivein ῎ῌῌῒ. Each group was also a formally authorized unit (nuay) under an obligation to pay
taxes with each group composed of four or five small traders. Many of them werepart-time traders who also engaged in paddy cultivation. The members of a group pooled
their capital in order to purchase water buffaloes or cattle.
Huay On is located near Na Mo market along Route No. ῍ which connects Xay citywith Luang Nam Tha and Bo Ten (Fig. ῍ ). The market is developing into a new tradecenter for Na Mo district.

A small shop belonging to the district government wasestablished in the early ῍ΐῒῌs, and Na Mo market was formed later throughout the ῍ΐῒῌsand ῍ΐΐῌs.῎῏) Huay On was composed of ῐῌ Khmu families in ῍ΐῒῌ, and increased to ῎ΐῑ(῍῔ῐΐ῎ persons) in ῎ῌῌῒ. Huay On and two neighboring villages have become a relatively
densely populated area over the past ῏ῌ years. Some of the villagers have engaged insmall-scale trading at the market, while cash-cropping spread throughout this area, as
described above.
There are five groups selling water buffalo meat or beef at Na Mo market.῎ῐ) The
groups use a five-day rotational system whereby on a group’s designated day, a water
buffalo or cattle is slaughtered in the slaughter house at two o’clock in the morning, andthe meat is sold at the morning market from five o’clock. During the four interim
off-days, members of the group visit villages in Na Mo to purchase animals for the next
market day. According to one of the traders, none of the group members has a car or
motorbike, so they have to walk or take a mini-bus to their destination and bring thepurchased animals home with them on foot. In ῎ῌῌῒ, he told us that water buffaloes andcattle have become fewer in villages near traffic roads, so he had to spend longer timethan before to approach their owners in the distant mountainous areas from roads.
In ῎ῌῌῒ, the local demand for water buffalo meat and beef was not very high. But the
emergence of the sellers itself shows that the local inhabitants have begun to purchasemeat even on regular days, outside of their festival-days. This may be partially explainedby the fact that it has become difficult for the people living in the densely populatedareas to catch fish or insects in the surrounding environments. The local people indicatedthat fish in the Nam Xae River have decreased because of over-fishing and waterpollution. They now purchase fish and meat from traders, though some people maintainfish ponds for self-consumption.
Besides selling at Na Mo Market, each group of local traders also sold water buffaloes῎῏ῌ Besides small stands, there were about ῑῌ shops, including clothing stores, daily necessities’
shops, pharmacies and restaurants in Na Mo market area in ῎ῌῌῑ.
῎ῐῌ Some traders of Nam Xae village have taken charge of the sale of pork at Na Mo market
since the middle of the ῍ΐΐῌs. Most of the Nam Xae villagers are White Tai.
471ΐ῔῍῎῍ῑῐ῏ ῒand cattle to traders in Xay city which is  kilometers east from Na Mo Market. In
contrast to Huay On traders, the traders from Xay City transport the livestock theypurchase in pickup tracks. They also use mobile phones to communicate with theirbusiness counterparts.
VI. 

Xay City and the Traders

Xay city is the center of trade and transportation in Oudomxay province. There were
only several Lue villages in the basin before the s, but migrants from various ethnic
groups started arriving from the surrounding mountainous areas in Oudomxay and otherprovinces in  when the Lao P. D. R. was established. The total population increased
to about   by  . Through a rapid development process, many of the swamps andforests have been reclaimed, so water buffaloes and cattle have decreased in the city area.
Until the  s, water buffaloes were sold officially by the state company of theprovince. The purchase clerk was a black Tai man, who walked to villages in and aroundthe Xay basin in order to purchase water buffaloes. When the clerk was able to procure
water buffaloes, the company slaughtered a few head each day. When he procured nowater buffaloes, there was no more meat available yet, according to ex-workers, theinhabitants had few complaints about this because local people purchased meat in few
amounts at that time.
In the first half of the s, three Khmu men built a private slaughter house andstarted to deal in buffalo meat. Twelve Khmu traders who used the slaughter houseformed an authorized unit. In , a black Tai family from Luang Phabang built anotherslaughter house in the army station and formed another unit.) The two units dealt inboth water buffaloes and cattle.

But the former were more frequently slaughtered,because northern Lao local people preferred buffalo meat to beef. In  , an average offour to five buffaloes would be slaughtered on any ordinary day.)This number increased to six or seven head in  . The two units slaughtered morethan  head on each of the four big festival days in  .)In the case of the Khmu traders’ unit in  , each trader brought water buffaloes orcattle to the private slaughter house on the determined day of a twelve-day rotation.
After the slaughter, he sent the fresh meat to saleswomen. There were two units ofsaleswomen handling the retail supply of water buffalo meat and beef from this slaughterῌ In  , this unit had moved to the suburban area and a friend of the family took over theslaughter house at an army station between  and . During this period there were
three units in the city.
ῌ When traders had no water buffaloes, cattle were slaughtered in their place. According to
the head of the slaughter house, seven cattle need to be slaughtered to get the sameamount of three full-aged male buffaloes’ meat.
ῌ The four big festival days are New Year’s Day, the Fifth Month Full Moon Festival Day
and the day preceding the Beginning and End of Buddhist Lent.
472

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

house. Each unit was composed of  saleswomen and sold the meat retail every otherday at either Nong Maeng Da market or Nong Leng-Ban Thin market in the city.) The
saleswomen were paid in piece rate.) Traders also sold the skin to seven local foodproducers who processed it into nang phon (fried buffalo skin) and nang yam (dried buffaloskin). During the off-days, throughout the year, traders visited rural areas to purchasetheir stock.
In addition to the trade in Xay district, some traders of two units also dealt in theinter-district trade formally through contracts with other districts. They sometimes
resold cattle out to traders from Vientiane. They were not, however, able to deal ininter-provincial trade since around , as will be described below.
VI.

Unauthorized Traders and Markets in Neighboring Countries

The above mentioned cases are authorized by the government but it is very difficult to
get an accurate volume of livestock trade, because quite a few unauthorized traders areoperating in northern Laos. For example, villagers in the Nam Pak River basin told us
unauthorized traders came from the Chinese side of the border area at night. According
to the villagers, some of the traders resell the purchased animals to Thailand.
The livestock trade tends to be heavily influenced by cross-border markets. According to a Huay On villager, in , unauthorized traders offered higher price than most of
the traders of Huay On and Xay city for water buffaloes and cattle. He told us that Huay
On traders offered    kip (about US$  ) for a large male water buffalo aged ,
while unauthorized traders offered more than    kip (about US$ ) for an animalof the same size in , because the latter could sell water buffaloes to traders in the
Chinese urban markets at higher prices than the local markets of Laos. The price ofwater buffalo meat was  yuan (about   kip, US$) per kilogram at Meng La City

markets in Yunnan province of China, while the price was   kip (about US$  ) at Na
Mo market and   kip (about US$) at Nong Maeng Da market in Xay city in .

These traders supply livestock to markets in the densely populated urban areas ofnorthern Laos and markets across the border in China. This is largely driven by theincreasing demand for meat in both places.
According to a head-manager on food control at the industry and commercial
department of Oudomxay province, the consumption of water buffalo meat in theprovince has been increasing by about  percent each year since . The emergence ofthe densely populated areas appears to have driven up domestic demand. As mentioned
ῌ The retail price of water buffalo meat or beef per kilogram was   kip at the city
markets in  . It increased to   kip in . The daily wage was about   kip in
the city in . The prices were also influenced by the exchange rate between the kip andthe U. S. dollar.
ῌ According to the contracts made with the saleswomen in , they received one thousand
kip per kilogram sold.
473

ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῐΐ῎ ῐ ῑalready, even rural lifestyles have been subject to influence from the urbanization
processes. However, the lifestyle of urban residents has changed even more drastically.
Customary livelihoods based on semi-subsistence and self-sufficient rural culture cannot
be sustained for a number of reasons as follows: (῍) They do not have enough land for
agriculture and fallow lands for getting plants easily; (῎) Water resources have been
declining because of the reclamation, over-fishing or pollution of rivers and ponds near
populated areas; (῏) They do not have enough time for fishing, hunting and gathering, forthey have become busy with either trading or wage labor. Many of them have come tobelieve that it is better to go into non-farming economic activities, including trade inlivestock, so that they can purchase meat from merchants at the market, rather thanspend time catching fish and collecting edible plants in the fields and streams.
But it must also be pointed out that the sustainability of the current trade in water
buffalo may be doubtful. According to traders who deal in livestock in Xay city and
Huay On village, their business reached its peak around ῎ῌῌῑ. However, since ῎ῌῌΐ, it has
become increasingly difficult to purchase water buffaloes and cattle at reasonable prices
from rural villagers, because of the marked decrease in water buffalo in villages neartraffic roads, while the buyers have increased. The government of Oudomxay province
has been trying to strengthen restrictions on the export of water buffaloes and cattle inorder to ensure a reliable supply of the meat to the provincial market and to control themarket price of the meat. In fact, the export of water buffalo meat from Oudomxay
province to Thailand was formally stopped in ῎ῌῌ῍. Oudomxay province also stopped
renewing contracts with other provinces on the number of exportable water buffaloes
and cattle in ῎ῌῌῒ and ῎ῌῌΐ. These restrictions seem relatively successful in relieving
meat shortages, but a number of the traders, grazers and officers were all pessimistic
about the future prospects of water buffaloes. The major concern is that water buffaloes
will disappear completely from northern Laos in the near future.

VII Conclusions
In this paper, firstly, we began by describing how rural villagers in northern Laos graze
water buffaloes. Our conclusions show that villagers are practicing a more subsistenceoriented, diversified livelihood strategy, including such activities as paddy planting,swidden cultivation, fishing, hunting, gathering and livestock. Within this subsistenceorientated context, grazing activities have been relatively successful.
The fallow in forests and fallow paddy fields are a kind of common resource shared
among grazers, including people from neighboring villages. Mutually understood agreements were made on the selection of grazing points where cultivators are, in principle,
tolerant of using fallow land for grazing. However, latent tension between grazers andcultivators became a real conflict, as fallow lands suitable for grazing diminished. This474

T6@6> Y. and T. S>7DJC=:J6C< : Conflict between Water Buffalo and Market-Oriented Agriculture

conflict has been exacerbated by the rising popularity of market-oriented agriculture.
With the introduction of rubber planting and struggles over land use we can also see there-conceptualization of land ownership taking place.
Implementation of land zoning served to bolster the government’s policy of promoting market-oriented agriculture.

At the same time, land zoning increased tensions

regarding access to common resource fallow fields, over which grazers did not haveformal land use rights. To compensate for the loss of access to grazing land in areas
designated as agricultural development land, local governments advised the grazers toestablish fixed pastures in mountainous areas far from the agricultural development
zone. However, the villagers have experienced problems with this shift. In many cases,
it is difficult to find suitable sites large enough for grazing their animals in collaborative
arrangements. Even in the cases where villages were able to establish grazing areas,
these were used by the grazers whose home villages, ethnic identities or economicalinterests were different each other. New rules for managing these shared but limited
resources have been slow to develop. Furthermore, with exposure to the penetration of
the market economy, many villagers have decided to use their precious labor resources
for commercially-oriented agriculture and wage labor, rather than water buffalo husbandry.

As a result of the ban on free grazing, and the surrounding circumstances

described here, many villagers stopped water buffalo husbandry and sold off buffaloes inurban markets.
While the number of water buffaloes in rural areas declined rapidly, the demand formeat among the urban population grew. Markets provide easy access to fresh meat if
there is a reliable supply. But the continuing decrease in water buffalo husbandry meansthat urban consumers may not be able to purchase what they need in the near future.῎ῌ)
Alternatively, meat prices may rise if traders must rely on supply from more distantsources.
It seems to be a natural phenomenon that people pursue convenience, safety andprosperity through the adoption of urbanized and modern lifestyles.

The market

economy linked to neighboring countries’ markets brings opportunities to realize newlifestyles. However, these opportunities are accompanied by risks, as many of the new
trends are seen to be unsustainable. The spread of cash cropping and rubber plantation
appears to homogenize the production systems of rural villagers in our study areas. But
there is a strong element of uncertainty with the new cash crops that are dependent upon
foreign markets.

The future demand for these products cannot be predicted, andlifestyles that are intimately linked to the production and trade of cash crops can become
unstable. This suggests that there may be an increase in the vulnerability of people’s

῎ῌῌ It is noticeable that pig and fish farms have been growing in number and size in Xay cityand its suburban areas since around ῍ῌῌ῏. Hybrid pigs provided by Thai and China merchants are bred in these farms.
475ῒΐῌ῍ῌῐ῏ ῏ῑ῎ ῏ ῑlivelihood.
Livestock, such as the water buffalo presented here, has been a beneficial andfungible asset for villagers. From our analysis we conclude that livestock husbandry is
not only an important source of alternative or supplementary income, but forms asafety-net which can act as a buffer for rural people to weather some of the shocks of themarket transition.
People in this area have also faced dilemmas whereby their pursuit of short-time cash
income has been accompanied by the risk of the break-up of their traditional local
communities and customary common resource management systems. We have identified
the conflicts mentioned in this paper as a sign of this occuring. It is an urgent issue tore-construct mutual agreement systems for people who have various economical interests to manage their common resources.
The impacts of land zoning and cash-crop booms on the rural economic balance andpeople’s livelihood stability need to be studied carefully. As Namura [῎ῌῌῒ: ῎῎ῑ] pointed
out, balancing the tensions between land use zoning, which tries to simplify the humanlandscape, and customary natural resource management, which tends to be based ondiversity and complexity, is a key challenge to contemporary rural society. Adjustments
between these two seemingly opposed systems should take place through processes suchas the exchange of information, perspectives and options between livestock grazers, crop
cultivators and local government officials. These exchanges form an essential foundation upon which trust, and understanding can be built, and eventually lead to effective
and locally appropriate rules and regulations to guide resource management. Within
this, another challenge is to provide innovative support to enable livestock grazers, boththose who establish fixed grazing areas and those who graze their animals freely in themountainous areas, to adjust their systems in the face of rapid socio-economic change.

Acknowledgement
We are grateful to have participated in the research project entitled “A Transdisciplinary Study on
the Regional Eco-History in Tropical Monsoon Asia: ῍ΐ῏ῐῌ῎ῌῌῐ” which was organized by Prof.
Tomoya Akimichi, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN). The project was supportedby the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan. We sincerely thank Prof. Yasuyuki
Kono, Kyoto University, leader of the forestry and agriculture group. We acknowledge with manythanks the assistance from Mr. Souriyanh Sisangrat (IDC), Mr. Souligneth Phompharchanh (exresearcher, Institute for Cultural Research, Ministry of Information and Culture, Laos), Mr. Phuwan
Duangdala and Dr. Nathan Badenoch (Northern Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, Laos).

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