IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2016) 7-1

Research article
erd

Farmers’ Soil Conservation Practices of Maize Production,Paklay District, Sayabouly Province, Lao PDROUDTANIVANH LUANGDUANGSITTHIDETH*
Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Email: l.oudtanivanh@gmail.com

BUDSARA LIMNIRUNKUL
Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Received 15 November 2015

Accepted 11 April 2016(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Soil degradation is a big problem on the hill slopes in the Lao PDR where maize isthe main crop and intensively grown. Due to this, maize yield was lower than 3.8 ton/ha which
also impacted the environment as well as farmers’ incomes. Soil Conservation Practices (SCP)
are important alternative methodologies for soil conservation on sloping land. The objective of
this study was to examine the farmers’ current soil conservation practices for maize productionin Paklay district, Sayabouly province. The study employed participatory rapid appraisal (PRA)
methods and data was collected through focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews
from three villages (Village 1: Palay 46 households, Village 2: Boumlao-Phakeo 90 households
and Village 3 Senphon 25 households, totaling 161 households). The key informant interviews
were implemented through the staff of the District Agriculture and Forestry Office (DAFO) andthe village headmen. The results showed that 73% of farmers practiced SCP; the major SCP
practices included 100% intercropping, 60% crop residue management, 12% crop rotation, 12%conservation tillage and 3% organic fertilizer application. The use of SCP showed an increasein soil fertility, an improvement in the maize yield and soil erosion prevention on hill slopes.
The majority of maize farmers who adopted SCP applied the legume intercropping method. Thelegume (i.e. groundnut, red bean, mungbean and black bean) were planted two weeks before themaize harvest. Crop residue was used for mulching (conserving soil moisture and soil nutrition).
Furthermore, knowledge of SCP systems such as chemical use, residual crops, intercropping,mulching, tillage, and chemical soil contamination needed to be provided to farmers by staff ofthe DAFO.
Keywords maize, soil conservation practice, crop rotation, intercropping

INTRODUCTION
In Laos, many rural farmers have traditionally been engaged in subsistence food production. Since themiddle of 1980s, the government of Laos has publicized a slow liberalization of the national economy.
Shifting cultivation was replaced by the intensive cultivation of cash crops such as maize, sugarcane,cassava and rubber (Viengpasith et al., 2012). Amongst the cash crops, maize has been ranked the firstin terms of volume (Phanvilay et al., 2006). Therefore, the area of maize production has increased
more than 7 times from 2003 to 2010 (Thanichanon, 2012).
Sayabouly province is one of the provinces which produces the largest amount of maize as maize
covers more than 98% of the total area (Lestrelin and Castella, 2011). However, over the past decade,maize production has extended into preserved forest areas. Moreover, plowing practices and increased
application of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers contribute to soil degradation (e.g. soil
erosion, weed outbreak, and chemical contamination) (Lestrelin et al., 2012). In addition, an increase inⒸ ISERD111

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2016) 7-1

the volume of maize production combined with low productivity will need more farmland and thistends to cause a change in land use and land covers.
In the 2000s, conservation agriculture had been promoted in Sayabouly province by Application
Site Southern Sayabouly or Point d’Application du Sud du province de Sayabouly (PASS) and theNational Programme on Agro-Ecology or Programme National Agro-Ecologie (PRONAE) in order tomaintain soil fertility for sustainable agriculture in the transitional period for agriculture whilecontrolling the negative impacts on land use. Conservation agricultural practices such as no-tillage,
cover crops, crops rotation and/or crop residue management have been shown to have positive impacts
on preventing soil erosion, as well as having a positive impact on soil maintenance and/or the renewalof the soils’ physical, biological and chemical properties and on soil moisture (Lestrelin et al., 2012).
Therefore, one of the key factors for improving the efficiency of maize production is to increase
the technical efficiency of maize farmers (Southavilay et al., 2012). Moreover, soil conservation
practices are the best way to enhance maize product and sustainable land use.
OBJECTIVEThe objective of this study was to examine farmers’ current soil conservation practices on maize
production in Paklay district, Sayabouly province.
METHODOLOGY
Samples were selected from the famers who currently cultivate maize and the famers who had been
involved in the PASS and PRONAE projects in years 2000s in Paklay district. Data collection was
done through the participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) approach in 3 villages (village1: Palay, village 2:
Boumlao-Phakeo and village 3: Senphon). Village headman interviews, focus group discussions andhousehold interviews were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 161
household representatives, which was made up of 46 households from Village 1, 90 households fromVillage 2 and 25 households from village 3. The topics for focus group discussions and interviews
included a history of farmers’ traditional practices, soil management practices, cropping patterns andphysical characteristics of the study areas. The total numbers of samples were calculated by Yamane(1967) as shown in Table1.
Table 1 Household interviewees in three target villages
Village

Total Household(HH)

Percentage of household (%)
Cultivating maizeHousehold interviewed(HH)

Village 1
Village 2
Village 3
Total
Source: Field survey, 2015

348
928
295

98
95
98

4690
25161

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Background of Conservation Agriculture Promoted in Study Area
For intensive crops production in hill slope areas, conservation agriculture (CA) had been promoted
through PRONAE (started 2001) and PASS (started 2005) in the 2000s. The concept of the projectsⒸ ISERD112

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was direct seeding mulch-based cropping (DMC) systems. DMC systems are cropping systems thatinvolve no-tillage and permanent plant cover on the soil. The government had set a policy to spread
CA over all the country to reduce soil degradation, chemical use and improve soil fertility to help
preserve the environment.
Main Crops and Soil Characteristic
Farm types: There are various crops which are grown in these areas. Rice is the main crop forhousehold consumtion, while maize, legume and other crops are commercial crops. Farm types in all
the three villages have a similar pattern because the environmental context and the livelihoods are
similar in terms of the cropping areas in each village. In Village 1, maize production covered 31% of
the planted area, rice covered 54% and the legume area covered 15%. In Village 2, maize production
was highest at 77%, while the rice planted area was 12% and the legume planted area was 8%. For
Village 3, rice covered 15% of the planted area, maize covered 58% and legume covered 23% asshown in Fig. 1.

Village1: Palay

Village 2: Boumlao-Phakeo

Village 3: Senphon

Fig. 1 Farm types in three villages of study area
Soil charateristics: According to the interviews with farmers, it was found that there are six different
soil types in the study areas. The majority of soil types are loamy soil. This soil type is very suitable forcultivation, especially for maize production. The soil characteristics in the three villages are quite
similar. Loamy soil contributes to 67%, 60% and 76% of the agricultural area in villages 1, 2 and 3
respectively. In addition, there is chalky soil at 12%, 17% and 20% for villages 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
Table 2 Soil characteristics of three villages
PhysicalSoil type

Village 1 (n=46)
 Loamy67%
 Sandy Clay8%
 Silty14%
 Peaty Chalky
12%
Source: Field survey, 2015






Village 2 (n=90)
Loamy
60%
Sandy
4%
Clay
1%
Silty
10%
Peaty
9%
Chalky
17%




Village 3 (n=25)
Loamy
76%
Sandy
Clay
Silty
Peaty
4%
Chalky20%Cropping calendar: In the study areas, most of the cropping activities were concentrated during therainy season because the area is sloping land. There were no irrigation systems for crop production inthe dry season. Table 3 shows the duration of the cropping season for the three villages.

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Table 3 Cropping calendar of the study areas
1234

5

6

7Month891011121234

Upland rice
Rice
Maize
Groundnut
Black bean
Red beanCassava
White sesame
Source: Field survey, 2015

Famers’ Practices in Maize Cultivation
Maize production systems: In the past, maize production was a traditional practice where farmers
depended on indiginous knowledge. Since the government has introduced the policy of stopping slashand-burn and shifting cultivation, the area was replaced by intensive, market-oriented agriculture.
Maize became the first and most important cash crop which generally involved the use of hybrid
varieties, fertilizers and pesticides, the burning of crop residues for land preparation and plowing on
steep slopes, (even mechanical plowing with tractors). After a conservation agriculture project had
been impremented, the maize production system has been changed to intercropping and crop rotation
so the famers in the study areas mostly practice maize and legume relay intercropping. There are fourkinds of legumes which include groundnut, red bean, black bean, and mungbean in this system.
Soil conservation practices: It was found that the farmers in the three villages practiced similar
methods of SCP because the context of the area was also similar. In total, 73% of farmers practiced
SCP. The major practice of SCP was 100% intercropping followed by 60% crop residue management,
12% crop rotation, 12% conservation tillage and 3% organic fertilizer application as shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Soil conservation practices of farmers in the study areas (N=161)
Study area

Palay
Boumlao-Phakeo
Senphon
Total

Soil
conservation
practices
(%)
no.
%
30
1971
44
1711118
73

Soil conservation practices
Inter-croppingCrop
residueCroprotation

Conservation
tillageOrganic
fertilizer

no.
30
71
17118

no.
1744
1071

no.
53412

no.
53412no.
2114%
2560
14100%
24621460%
42253310%
42253310%
5025253Source: field survey, 2015

The households interviewed were questioned about the methods of SCP that they had applied totheir farmland and were asked to explain the details of each method. The current practices for SCP in
the study areas had the following processes:
Intercropping: The farmers’ responses showed that legumes have been used for intercropping withmaize production. Legume cropping starts near the end of the rainy season because it’s resistant to dryconditions and it is also a short duration crop. In practicing intercropping, farmers planted legume
within one or two weeks before the maize harvest; they planted only some part of the maize area in oneyear and moved to other parts of the maize area for the next year. As the farmers observed, legumeⒸ ISERD

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intercropping could improve soil fertility. Furthermore, legume production could increase the familyincome.
Crop residues management: In general, crop residue management is not widely practiced yet but
some farmers have used the agricultural residues for controlling soil erosion and suppressing weeds. In
addition, maize residue can be bean trellis and livestock feed. There are a small number of farmers whoburn crop residues after the harvest for land clearance before they plough the land to grow maize.
Conservation tillage: In the study areas, only 10% of farmers practiced conservation tillage. The
condition of the areas is suitable for conservation tillage because land preparation for the high slopes
must consider soil erosion. The conservation tillage methods are practiced for reducing soil erosion on
the farmland and the plowing is conducted across the slope. Moreover, conservation tillage maintains
soil fertility. There were farmers that do not plough or plough only some years to preserve soil fertility,
decrease soil degradation and soil erosion. However, farmers are still concerned about conservation
tillage as it may cause hard soil and extreme weed growth.
Crop rotation: Farmers grew legume as a part of a crop rotation program, especially groundnut. Theywould grow groundnut after maize, but the proportion of groundnut was less than maize. Aside fromimproving soil fertility, legume rotation also has the advantage of reducing soil degradation. It could
also generate more income for the farmer.
Organic fertilizer: In the study area, not many farmers applied organic fertilizer in order to improvesoil fertility, mainly by using manure from livestock. Organic fertilizer has not been wellacknowledged and livestock production in the study area still uses traditional systems so famers do nothave much manure from their livestock to apply to farmland. After the planting season, farmers let
their cattle roam freely so their farmland gained manure from freely released animals. Althoughorganic fertilizer is not enough for crop production, it can still help to improve soil fertility.
Farmers’ adoption level on SCP: Depending on the number of SCP methods practiced, it was foundthat there were three levels of farmers’ adoption of SCP, 11.80%, 33.54% and 27.95% of farmers had
high, medium and low levels of adoption respectively. In addition, there were 26.71% of farmers who
did not adopt any method of SCP.
Table 5 Adoption levels of farmers sampled
Adoption Category
0123
Total

Variable

Frequency
Number434554
19161

Non-adoption
Low adoption level
Medium adoption level
High adoption level

Percentage
26.71
27.95
33.54
11.80
100.00Source: field survey, 2015

Farmers’ understanding on SCP: According to focus groups discussions and semi-structured
interviews, it showed that farmers understood the advantages and disadvantages of SCP methods
before the adoption of SCP. In addition, the practices also showed that farmers understood soilconservation practices.
CONCLUSION
This study indicated that about 73% of farmers practiced SCP, which included the five main methods.
100% of farmers practiced SCP by intercropping, 60% by crop residue management, 12% by croprotation, 12% by conservation tillage and 3% with organic fertilizer. Furthermore, it was found that
there were three levels of farmers’ adoption of SCP, 11.80%, 33.54% and 27.95% of farmers had high,medium and low levels of adoption respectively. In addition, there were 26.71% of farmers who didⒸ ISERD

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not adopt any method of SCP. Moreover, farmers understood that SCP is the knowledge, perception
and practice needed for soil fertility improvement. Therefore, in order to improve soil fertility, it isnecessary to improve the knowledge, the perceptions, adoption levels and the practices of famers ofSCP methods.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the Center for Agricultural Resource System Research, Facultyof Agriculture, Chiang Mai University and IDRC-SEARCA for the sponsoring fund for the research
project. Also,I would like to gratefully acknowledge the DAFO Paklay district and villageorganizations for supporting the field survey.
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