LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (PDR)

INTRODUCTION

Main non-wood forest products

The most important NWFP in Lao PDR include medicinal plants (e.g. cardamom), food (nuts, fern roots, fruits), fibres (e.g. paper mulberry) and exudates (damar resin, oleoresin, benzoin). Other important NWFP are spices, stems (bamboo, rattan), perfumes, cosmetics (incense) and orchids.

General information

Lao PDR has a high dependency on forest products due to its low population density combined with a high rate of forest cover (Foppes and Ketphanh 2000). NWFP serve a wide range of subsistence needs and provide opportunities for earning cash income. More than 500 plant and animal products are reported to be used. However, many species have yet to be identified botanically and the names of many species are still inconsistent in different reports. Furthermore, no systematic survey has been conducted on flora. From rural surveys, villagers identified over 757 species of plants and 150 species of animals that are used.

NWFP make a significant contribution to the national economy both directly and indirectly. At the national level, NWFP provide roughly 2.5 percent of annual exports (Ingles et al. 1998). According to Foppes and Ketphanh (2000), NWFP provide 50 to 55 percent of the cash income of rural villages, where 80 percent of the population lives and their subsistence use may account for 20 to 30 percent of the gross national product. The reported export value of NWFP was about US$6.3 million in 1993. Among all the exported products, medicinal plants score highest with about 70 percent of the total export value, followed by fibre products at 15 percent, resin 8 percent, edible products 6 percent and incense 2 percent.

Most NWFP are exported to China, especially medicinal plants (Ingles et al. 1998), Viet Nam and Thailand although certain products are also exported to Japan and Europe.

Both animal and plant products are culturally, socially and economically important for Laotians. Everyone can collect NWFP from both plant and animal sources for local use. Through the Land Use Planning and Land Allocation Scheme, some forms of ownership along with community rules on the management and use of resources within the village boundary have been developed. In commercial collection, a quota from the Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for the harvesting of NWFP is needed.

Table 1. Exports of NWFP

Source: IUCN/DOF NTFP Project (undated)

Table 2. Quota issued for different NWFP

Na = not available

Sources: Figures for 1995 to 1998: extracted from NIC database. Figures for 1998/1999: Department of Forestry.

Almost all NWFP are collected from the wild. Generally, the resources have been exploited unsustainably. Efforts at domestication are now expanding to cover more species (e.g. Styrax tonkinensis (benzoin), Pentace burmanica, rattan and bamboo species, Debregeasia hypoleuca, Sterculia lychnophora and Boehmeria malabarica (bong bark). Currently cardamom, broom grass, rattan shoots, bamboo shoots and culms and paper mulberry are collected from small-scale plantations, agroforests and home gardens.

In addition to forest product gathering in large blocks of state-owned and open-access forests, other types of forest use and management with regard to NWFP are described by Foppes and Ketphanh (2000):

Traditional ownership rights over specific types of trees: Markings of trees as a symbol of ownership (e.g. Dipterocarpus spp. for resin tapping and beehives on trees).

Spirit forests and hunting taboos: Small forests honoured as burial grounds or as a refuge for spirits.

Village agreements on forest-use rules: E.g. a fishing and hunting ban during certain seasons between different user groups and sustainable harvesting agreements through improvement activities.

Multi-village agreements on forest-use rules: E.g. the National Bio-diversity Conservation Areas (NBCA), State production forests, protection forests or even in village forests (designated through the land-use and land allocation scheme).

Community aquatic resource management: The establishment of fish conservation zones including the declaration of certain portions of the natural streams/rivers as conservation zones where no fishing or any activity causing disturbance is allowed during the period of peak fishing pressure in the dry season. Other typical management options: bans on stream blocking; bans on various destructive fishing/collection methods; fish fry conservation; frog conservation schemes; regulations for fishing in paddy fields and communal lakes, etc. Fish conservation provides an excellent entry point for integrated development and conservation programmes. Prominent examples are in the south of Lao PDR where over 60 village communities in one district have set successful co-management systems for fish and frog conservation over the last eight years.

PLANTS AND PLANT PRODUCTS

Food

Main products for local use include several species used as food. More than 50 plant species have been recorded as wild vegetables. Many species are available throughout the year. Tubers (Dioscorea spp.) are important substitutes for rice and important ingredients for preparing local desserts. Mushrooms are also very popular.

According to Foppes and Ketphanh (1997) some of the common bamboo species for shoots are Gigantochloa albociliata, Bambusa arundianaria, Bambusa nana, Bambusa tulda and Cephalostachyum virgatum (mai hia). Shoots sell for US$0.15 to 0.50/kg, depending on the season, and the value of two kilogrammes of bamboo shoots is roughly equal to one kilogramme of rice (Ketphanh 1995).

The two most common rattan species that are eaten for their shoots are Calamus tenuis and Daemonorops schmidtiana (Foppes and Ketphanh 1997). The fruit and shoots of all these species are edible and some of them are sold on the local market (US$0.17 for three shoots) (Ketphanh 1995).

Malva nuts (makjong) are fruits collected from Scaphium macropodum (sometimes reported to be collected also from Scaphium lychnophorum and Sterculia lychnophora). The species show a certain degree of endemism and are found only in pockets in the semi-evergreen forests in southern provinces of the country namely, Champasack, Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu. Flowering and fruiting take place irregularly once in every three to four years (Flint 2000).

The gel made from malva nuts is edible and locally malva nuts are used as ingredients in dishes and beverages. Malva nut has cooling agent medicinal properties. It is used to treat dysentry, intestinal infections, coughing and sore throats (Lamxay 2001).

Malva nuts have a fairly limited market locally and they have gained commercial export value only recently. The most significant years for harvesting and trade of malva nuts have been 1995, 1998 and 2001. The main export market is China. The fruit is sold to middlemen at US$1.00 to 2.00/kg.

With the attractive price of this product, initiatives have been made recently to try out nursery techniques and trial plantations have been started in Champasack Province.

Sugar palm is the fruit of Arenga westerhoutii. Sugar palm is distributed naturally in northern provinces such as Luang Nam Tha, Oudomxai, Luang Prabang and Sayabouly.

Harvesting of sugar palm fruits is done usually from January to March. The mature fruits are harvested mainly by climbing trees and cutting down fruit clusters or in some cases by felling the sugar palm tree. According to Lamxay (2001) the yield productivity of sugar palm fruits is approximately 200 to 300 kg/tree in an area with a density of about 120 trees/ha. One tree can produce up to 200 litres of sugar palm juice. Approximately 10 kg of fresh fruits can produce 3 to 3.5 kg of endosperm (seeds).

The sugar palm tree has numerous uses: the shoots can be cooked in a variety of local soups; leaves are used as roofing material; the seeds of the fruit are edible and are used commonly in desserts. Besides, the juice can be harvested from the apex of male flowers to be processed as hard sugar. Currently, sugar palm fruits are sold to a canning factory in Vientiane before being sold to domestic and international markets. The main export market for sugar palm seeds/endosperm has been Thailand. The exported quantity has been about 600 tonnes/year (on average US$0.33 to 0.54/kg).

Medicines

Cardamom (Amomum spp.) (commercial names bastard cardamom, camphor seed or siame cardamom [Ketphanh 1995]) grows abundantly in disturbed natural forests on semishaded sites in all parts of the country. Eight species of cardamom occur throughout the country (Lamxay 2001), the four main species being Amomum longiligular, Amomum avoideum, Amomum villosum and Amomum sp. (locally known as maak naeng hua lohn). The first species is the most popular in the south and the others in the north.

The cardamom fruit is collected mainly from natural forests. Cardamom has been domesticated in home gardens, and is grown with rice in shifting cultivation fields in many areas, notably in parts of Champasack Province where planting started in 1975 (Lamxay 2001) and in Salavan Province. Two native species i.e. Amomum ovoideum (green cardamom) and Amomum villosum (red cardamom) are used in planting. One exotic species from China, Amomum xanthioides was also introduced in Oudomxay Province because of its high price. Harvesting in plantations starts from the fourth year. The yield of cardamom varies from 300 to 600 kg/ha (Lamxay 2001). Cardamom fruits are collected every year from September to October. The harvesting season lasts for 15 to 30 days.

Cardamom is used chiefly for medicinal purposes. The product is collected exclusively for export to China and Korea at varying prices. Among medicinal products, which cover about 70 percent of the total export income, cardamom accounts for 90 percent (Ingles et al. 1998). The quantity of exported cardamom has been increasing annually since 1995.

According to Ketphanh (1995) cardamom is used as a spice. In the Middle East it is used to flavour coffee; in northern Europe and the United States in bakery products; and elsewhere it is used in meat seasoning. Ketphanh (1995) reports that the price for seeds in rural areas is about US$1.00 to 2.50/kg. Cardamom seeds are exported primarily to Thailand and China and the export price is about US$3.00/kg.

Perfumes and cosmetics

Sapan or peuak meuak, a climber species (Boemeria malabarica), is found mainly in the northern provinces of Oudomxai, Luang Prabang, Sayabouly, Luang Nam Tha, Bokeo, Xiang Khouang and Phongsaly.

Bark harvesting has been conducted mainly from the natural forests and has often been very destructive. Actual harvesting practices included extracting the whole plant, including roots. The bark is then removed, cut into sections and sun-dried for almost one week until the moisture content is about 12 to 15 percent. The sun-dried bark is then broken into small pieces to facilitate packing and transporting. Storing in dry, w ell-ventilated conditions is essential to avoid fungus attacks.

Local villagers report using sapan in traditional medicines for treating digestive and intestinal disorders. There is no processing of the final product in Lao PDR. The dried bark is exported mainly to China where it is used to produce incense, mosquito repellent and glue. Little trade or pricing information is available from local trading agencies that deal with foreign companies. Luang Nam Tha and Bokeo provinces export the largest quantities.

Local villagers have started to plant the species and research to domesticate it is currently ongoing. Future prospects are expected to be good although there will be a decrease of the resource in the natural forests.

Utensils, handicrafts and construction materials

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is a well-known species that produces a strong fibre from its bark. The species is distributed naturally throughout the country.

Paper mulberry has numerous uses: traditional medicine (fruits, sap, leaves bark and roots); as fodder for livestock, pigs, poultry and fish (leaves); soap and waxes (sap from seeds); firewood; fencing materials; and for growing mushrooms (debarked stems) (Lamxay 2001; Forsen et al. 2001). The ash from burned stems is used for bleaching pulp by villagers in Luang Prabang in hand-made paper making, and wastewater from this process is later used as fertilizer. Locally the bark of paper mulberry is used mainly for producing pulp for export.

Currently several small private enterprises are dealing with the production of mulberry pulp, hand-made paper and handicraft items. Farmers sell the dry bark (both quality graded and not graded) to collectors in the village. One collector buys around 500 kg of dry bark per year from the farmers and sells to the district collector who again transports it to a provincial trader. The provincial trader does the grading of the bark and sells it to the Thai traders at the border; later they sell it to the business-houses that buy various cash crops for subsequent retail to the factories in Thailand. The harvester’s price varies seasonally. On average the price at the farm gate was about US$0.30/kg of dry bark in 1999 and US$0.23/kg in 2000 (Forsen et al. 2001). Official figures show that from 1995 to 1999 Lao PDR exported about 146 tonnes of dry bark per year (Lamxay 2001). The export prices for dry bark vary with grades. Grade A is sold for US$0.92/kg and grade B for US$0.85 at the factory in Thailand (Forsen et al. 2001). Grade C is sold generally to local paper makers and grade D is a special grade sold at the highest rate.

Forsen et al. (2001) revealed that the mulberry paper factory in Luang Prabang Province (presently the only one in operation in the country) produces about 440 tonnes of pulp per year. Out of this total production, 80 percent is exported to Thailand, 10 percent to South Korea and 10 percent to China. Hand-made paper products are produced by several small enterprises and mainly are sold locally.

Paper mulberry bark is collected from natural stands, plantations and intercropping systems (Forsen et al. 2001). Collection from natural forests is declining in favour of more management-oriented systems because of resource depletion in the wild and increased prices and numbers of harvesters. Intercropping production systems appear to be more popular compared to monocrop plantations. Two intercropping subsystems are practised: intercropping paper mulberry with annual crops and using paper mulberry as a transition crop to fruit orchards or tree plantations. The amount of bark collected from natural stands is expected to decrease and paper mulberry gardens are expected to expand (Forsen et al. 2001). The lack of labour seems to be an important limiting factor for mulberry plantations.

The yields of paper mulberry bark vary greatly. The preferred spacings are 1.5 x 1.5 m (5 067 kg of dry bark/ha) and 2 x 2m (5 440 kg of dry bark/ha) as they give a fairly high yield, good quality bark and trees that are easy to harvest (Forsen et al. 2001).

The scientific name as well as the local name of the species yielding bong bark is not clear and there is an ongoing study to identify the species. Two species of bong have been identified to yield bark with a commercial value. These two species are named locally after the colour of the sap, as bong daeng (red bong) (possibly Persea kuzii) and bong khao (white bong) (Persea umbelliflora or Notaphoebe umbelliflora). Bong is found throughout the country both in lowland and mountainous areas.

Bong bark is used in the production of incense/joss sticks, used commonly in Buddhist temples throughout Southeast Asia. Bong bark is also used to make mosquito repellent coils/incense, as glue in carton or particle-board production and timber lacquer. In old traditional practices, bong bark was mixed with soil when used for modelling and moulding to make statues in temples and in household items. The bong bark is harvested from December to April from six-(or more)year-old trees. Local harvesting methods involve stripping sections of the bark. Stripping all the bark causes tree mortality, but coppices regrow readily from stumps.

Dried bong bark is exported mainly to Viet Nam and Thailand. From 1995 to 1999 an average of 325 tonnes per year were exported, valued at US$93 578.00 (US$0.26 to 0.50/kg). The marketing prospects for bong bark are expected to remain stable as incense sticks are used daily in Buddhist ceremonies, in temples and households throughout Southeast Asia. There is a continuous demand as more sticks are used as people become wealthier.

Tiger grass (broom grass) (Thysanolaena latifolia or T. maxima) is found in all regions although it is more dominant in the northern provinces. Collection is almost entirely from the wild, although a small quantity is also collected from plantations.

The collected flowers are sun-dried and fruits are removed before selling. The dried panicle can be stored for many years. The tiger grass stems/flowers are used to make brooms. Some people eat the young shoots. Leaves are harvested as fodder for livestock.

Tiger grass is sold mainly on local markets (US$0.25 to 0.6/kg). Dry unprocessed flowers are also exported to Thailand. The NTFP Project surveys on marketing information reveal that from 1995 to 1999, Lao PDR exported an average of 320 tonnes per year, at the price of US$0.26 to 0.42/kg. Some studies have been conducted recently to support villagers’ efforts to domesticate the species.

Bamboo culms and rattan canes are used widely for fencing, house construction, fishing equipment, basketry, tools and implements and furniture. The most commonly used bamboo species for these purposes are Cephalostachyum virgatum, Cephalostachyum virgatum, mai phang (Dendrocalamus sp.), mai phaiban (Bambusa blumeana), mai sangphay (Bambusa nana), mai kase (Neuhouzeana mekkhonggensis), mai bong (Bambusa tulda) and mai phaipa (Bambusa arudinaria).

Among the rattans, Calamus javanensis and Daemonorops schmidtiana are the species used most commonly. Rattan grows primarily in the central part of the country (Ketphanh 1995). Each year, the government issues cutting permits for up to 400 000 pieces of large-dimension rattan (one piece measures 4.5 m in length). Actual production varies from 300 000 to 400 000 pieces of large diameter rattan, and from 25 000 to 30 000 tonnes of small diameter rattan, all coming from wild plants. Large diameter rattan is supplied mainly to four large factories, with smaller volumes being directed to home production of furniture and handicrafts. Among the products made from rattan are furniture, baskets, fish traps, hats, walking sticks, tool handles, ropes and mats. Only processed rattan products can be exported (Ketphanh 1995).

Rural people earn income from the harvest of rattan either by retail to traders or to representatives from the main factories. Collectors earn about US$0.60 per piece of large rattan in the rural areas. Cane delivered to factory sites earns about US$1.00 per piece. Small diameter rattan is sold for US$0.35/kg. Cottage industries employ both men and women (Ketphanh 1995).

In Vientiane, the total use of bamboo culms is about 1 000 000 culms per year. The price of one culm (5 m) is US$0.20 to 0.40. Importation of bamboo mat board from Viet Nam averages 80 000 sheets per year according to interviews with traders. The price is US$2.00 per 1.6 x 4.0 m mat. Many bamboo products (handicrafts, furniture, raw materials) are exported, but quantities are still relatively small and no accurate data on quantities or values are available (Ketphanh 1995). Handicrafts made from bamboo are an important source of income for farmers, following the rice-growing season. In Vientiane, factories processing bamboo provide work for about 1 500 people (Ketphanh 1995).

Exudates

Damar resin (also called damar oil and yang oil by Ketphanh [1995], locally known as khii sii) is a plant exudate obtained from tree species of the family Dipterocarpaceae that mainly occurs in the dry dipterocarp and evergreen forests in the central and southern parts of the country. The species that produce damar resin are Shorea obtusa, Hopea odorata, Vatica harmandiana, Vatica odorata, Anisoptera costata, Shorea siamensis, Shorea guiso, Shorea roxburghii and Shorea hanryana. Damar resin produced by Shorea obtusa is the best in quality.

Rural people use damar resin to make a lacquer or sealer for local bamboo woven buckets and as a coating to waterproof buckets and local wooden boats. The resin is used in the paint industry, in ink production and for varnishes and lacquers.

The resin is collected both from the ground around the tree and on the tree. According Lamxay (2001) each tree with a diameter of more than 30 cm can produce an average of 15 to 20 kg of damar resin. The collection is done by the villagers, who sell the resin to the collectors or middlemen representing the export companies. Damar resin is exported as raw material mainly to Thailand. The export quantity has increased rapidly over the last few years but the price, however, has decreased every year. Most of the resin used locally is collected directly by the users.

Styrax (benzoin) (Styrax tonkinensis) produces an excellent gum called benzoin or gum benjamin. To obtain the gum, trees are scarred or wounded. In an effort to close the wound, new wood forms. This new wood contains cavities filled with a resinous secretion (raw benzoin) (Ketphanh 1995).

Wild styrax grows on fallow land where people practise shifting cultivation. Traditionally people never planted the styrax trees, allowing wild styrax trees to grow unhindered. Trials on plantations have not been successful (Ketphanh 1995).

Since the 1980s the production of benzoin has declined because raw materials are poor in quality and producers lack marketing mechanisms. In 1994, the price of benzoin was US$2.00 to 2.50/kg and no processing of raw benzoin was done (Ketphanh 1995).