page_title: Ban Thapene
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Ban Thapene / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Wild mushroom in the forest of Ban Thapene
context_page_description: Ban Thapene is a village of Luang Prabang District, Luang Prabang Province, Laos. The village was first established about 130 years ago by Kha Hok families, one of the Khmu ethnic sub-groups. Like many other upland inhabitants in Luang Prabang, the livelihood and culture of ethnic groups such as Lao Loum, Kha Hok, Yao and Hmong in Ban Thapene is dependent on natural resources.
context_section_description: Before 1994, the livelihood of families in Ban Thapene was largely based on natural resources, upland farming or rotational shifting cultivation, planting wet rice, raising cows and buffalo, and collecting non-timber forest products. Afterward, because of the Lao policy of banning shifting cultivation and establishing protected areas to preserve the Kuang Si watershed and develop the Kuang Si tourism area, traditional practices have been partly converted to small-scale tourism services near the Kuang Si Falls. By 2014, some families in Ban Thapene still keep plots for farming. Ban Thapene plans these plots into the community managed area for agricultural production. Besides the regular income generated from tourism services, villagers also make items, e.g., traditional brocade, clothing, baskets, and wooden arts for selling as souvenirs to tourists. These products are largely made from non-timber forest products collected from community use forests and family forests after the fallow period.
caption: Wild mushrooms used by villagers to make herbal medicine, Ban Thapene
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