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ACTIVITY PROGRESS REPORT (Participatory planning for sustainable agro-ecosystem management for climate change

adaptation in Xayabuly Province)

Concept Note #: 043/2013

Work Plan/Period: July-September

Prepared by:

Name of author: Dr. Aloun Phonvisay

Position of author: Coordinator for ‘Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for Adaptation to Climate Change’

Organization of author: Livestock Research Center

Project Contact : Mr. Khamphone Mounlamai, Project Manager Email Address : khamphonedpcd@nafri.org.la

Date: 10/09/2013

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Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 4

2 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................. 5

3 Methods................................................................................................................................................. 5

4 Study results .......................................................................................................................................... 6

4.1 Participatory planning workshop .................................................................................................. 6

4.2 Participatory planning at the two selected villages ....................................................................... 7

4.2.1 Nasom Village, Phieng District ............................................................................................ 8

4.2.2 Muangpa Village, Paklai District .......................................................................................... 9

4.2.3 Recommendations for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities in the two selected villages . 11

4.3 Participatory planning at the Agricultural Extension Service Center ......................................... 14

5 Finance ................................................................................................................................................ 16

6 Recommendation of upcoming activities ............................................................................................ 17

7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 18

Annexes ...................................................................................................................................................... 19

Annex 1: Agenda of participatory planning in Xayabury ....................................................................... 19

Annex 2: Proposal with project approved (included budget) .................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Annex 3: Participatory workshop with local stakeholders at PAFO ....................................................... 20

Annex 4: Participatory planning with farmer groups at Nasom Village, Phieng District ....................... 21

Annex 5: Participatory planning at Agricultural Extension Service Center, Phieng District ................. 22

Annex 6: Participatory planning with farmer groups at Muangpa Village, Paklai District .................... 23

Annex 7: Participatory planning at Agricultural Extension Service Center, Paklai District .................. 24

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List of Tables

Table 1-1 Key agro-ecosystem activities ...................................................................................................... 4

Table 4-1 List of local government stakeholders attending the participatory planning workshop in Xayabury ....................................................................................................................................................... 6

Table 4-2 General agro-ecosystem criteria for two selected villages ........................................................... 7

Table 4-3 Numbers of villagers participated in the workshop ...................................................................... 8

Table 4-4 Key socio-economic information of Nasom Village .................................................................... 8

Table 4-5 Key agro-ecosystem information of Nasom Village .................................................................... 9

Table 4-6 Key socio-economic information of Muangpa Village .............................................................. 10

Table 4-7 Key agro-ecosystem information of Maungpa Village............................................................... 11

Table 4-8 Key constraints to present agro-ecosystem being vulnerable to climate change adaptation in two target villages .............................................................................................................................................. 12

Table 4-9 Agricultural Extension Service Center of Phieng District .......................................................... 15

Table 4-10 Agricultural Extension Service Center of Paklai District ......................................................... 16

Table 5-1 Table for financing for participatory planning activity .............................................................. 17

Table 6-1 Recommendation for next activities for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities ......................... 18

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1 Introduction The Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for Adaptation to Climate Change aims at

improving and strengthen smallholder farmers’ knowledge on sustainable agriculture as well as

environmental and natural resource management at a community (village) boundary. Key

agricultural and natural resource-management activities will be introduced and trained to

responsible staff members of District Agriculture and Forestry Offices (DAFOs) in four project

districts in Xayabury Province and Savannakhet Provinces, and to farmer groups in 12 target

villages being representative to 12 different ecosystem zone. These sustainable agro-ecosystem

activities are expected to run for 6 months, and benefit local agricultural officers in four target

districts through capacity building, and about 300 model farmers in 12 target villages.

Key activities for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for Adaptation to Climate Change

can be divided into three phases consisting of:

(1) Participatory planning with local stakeholders;

(2) introducing agro-ecosystem demonstration sites at the four project districts; and

(3) introducing agro-ecosystem activities to selected farmer groups in 12 target village. Sub-

activities of these agro-ecosystem activities and their timeframes are shown in Table 1-1

below.

Table 1-1 Key agro-ecosystem activities Key activities Sub-activities Timeframe Participatory planning - participatory planning with PAFO and DAFO;

- participatory rural appraisal in target villages August 2013

Agro-ecosystem demonstration sites

- sustainable agro-ecosystem demonstration sites (activities for producing seeds of forage, tree, crop, horticulture and fish fingerling, and soil conservation) at the Agricultural Extension Service Centers in four target districts; - monitoring and evaluation of these agro-ecosystem activities

September 2013 – January 2014

Agro-ecosystem activities in target villages

- train farmer groups in 12 target villages for implementing sustainable agro-ecosystem management activities (forestry, livestock, crop, horticulture, fisheries and soil management practices), and select model farmers; - introducing a field trip to the farmer groups - monitoring and evaluation of these agro-ecosystem activities

October – January 2014

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2 Objectives This report presents the survey results of ‘participatory planning activities’ of Sustainable Agro-

ecosystem Management for Adaptation to Climate Change. Participatory planning is considered

as one of most important steps for successful Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for

Adaptation to Climate Change. Carefully planning with local stakeholders (local staff and village

communities) together with understanding vulnerable agro-ecosystem to climate change would

lead to appropriate setting up of sustainable agro-ecosystem activities.

3 Methods Key methods for the participatory planning for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for

Adaptation to Climate Change in Xayabury Province included:

a) Organizing the participatory planning workshop with key local government stakeholders

including representatives from Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) and

Provincial Natural Resource and Environment Office (PNREO) and DAFO and DNREO

of the two project districts. The workshop aimed at introducing sustainable agro-

ecosystem management pilot project for adaptation to climate change in the IRAS project

district i.e. Phieng and Paklai District;

b) Conduct participatory planning with DAFO staff at the Agricultural Extension Service

Center at Phieng and Paklai Districts in order to introduce research on sustainable agro-

ecosystem activities;

c) Organizing the participatory planning workshop in two selected villages in the two

districts.

In the first phase of selecting pilot villages for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for

Adaptation to Climate Change in Xayabury, two villages of the two project districts which

present unique agro-ecosystem zones were selected as representatives village for initiating

sustainable agro-ecosystem activities.

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4 Study results

4.1 Participatory planning workshop The participatory planning workshop for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management for

Adaptation to Climate Change was conducted at PAFO of the province on 12 August 2013. The

local government stakeholders invited were representatives from PAFO, PNREO, DAFO and

DNREO of Phieng and Paklai Districts (see Table 4-1). List of the participants are attached in

Appendix 1. In total, there were 38 participants from six key agricultural and natural resource

management institutions of the province and districts attending the workshop. These participants

had direct benefits of understanding the concept of ‘Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Management

for Adaptation to Climate Change’ and learned the updated technical knowledge, technology and

research outcomes from the NAFRI team.

Table 4-1 List of local government stakeholders attending the participatory planning workshop in Xayabury No. Section No. of participants Remark 1 President of the workshop 1 Deputy Director of PAFO 2 Provincial IRAS project office 2 3 District IRAS project office 4 2 for each district

4 PAFO 4

1 Forestry Division. 1 Agriculture Division.

1 Livestock and Fisheries Division. 1 Agricultural Land Management

Division 5 PNRE 1 Environment Division

6 DAFOs of Phieng and Paklai District 10

2 Forestry Unit. 2 Agriculture Unit.

2 Livestock and Fisheries Unit. 2 Agricultural Land Management Unit

7 DNRE of Phieng and Paklai District 4 2 Environment Unit

8 NAFRI* 12

2 Livestock Research Center 2 Horticulture Research Center

2 Forestry Research Center 2 Fisheries Research Center

2 Agriculture Research Center 2 Agricultural Land Conservation

Center Total 38 2 out of 38 were women *Include Department of Agricultural Land Management and Development

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The workshop covered a presentation of the concept note of Sustainable Agro-ecosystem

Management for Adaptation to Climate Change by the representative of the NAFRI team. Each

research center under NAFRI then presented their technical knowledge, technology and

highlighted research outcomes which would be applied to sustainable agro-ecosystem activities

for climate change adaptation in the IRAS project.

The workshop was then dominated by local stakeholders from Phieng and Paklai Districts

discussing and outlining situations, constraints, opportunities and prioritized activities for

development of cropping, horticulture, livestock, forestry and soil conservation. Discussion on

different agro-ecosystem zones in Phieng and Paklai Districts were also made during the

workshop. The agro-ecosystem zones in these two districts are susceptible to flooding during the

wet season.

Toward discussion among local stakeholders and the NAFRI team, two pilot villages from the

two project districts were then selected based on unique agro-ecosystem criteria. These two

villages are presented in Table 4-2 below.

Table 4-2 General agro-ecosystem criteria for two selected villages District Village General agro-ecosystem criteria

Wet season Dry season Phieng Nasom - vulnerable to moderate flooding - water shortage for consumption and

agriculture Paklai Muangpa - vulnerable to flash flooding - insufficient water for horticulture

4.2 Participatory planning at the two selected villages Participatory planning was conducted at the two selected villages which are Nasom Village of

Phieng District and Maungpa Village of Paklai District. In each village, field survey was made.

This followed by organizing a workshop for which representatives of farmer groups were

invited. The objective of the workshop was to have participatory planning with farmer groups

regarding sustainable agro-ecosystem activities in their villages which are important to climate

change adaptation. Again, each NAFRI research center presented their technical knowledge,

technology and highlighted research outcomes. The total farmers participated in the workshop in

each village were shown in Table 4-3.

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Table 4-3 Numbers of villagers participated in the workshop District Village Numbers of participants Total

Men Women Phieng Nasom 32 20 52 (38% women) Paklai Muangpa 46 6 52 (12% women) Total 78 26 104

4.2.1 Nasom Village, Phieng District Nasom Village is one of seven IRAS project villages in Phieng District. The village was moved

out from Natarn Village and established in 1817 due to extensive flooding. The village is about

12km from the capital city of Xayabury. Table 4-3 presents some key socio-economic

information of Nasom Village. The population of the village was almost 1,700 people in 2011

while 67% of the total population was aged 14-60 year old (SUFORD, 2011). Main occupations

of households in the village were very much relied on agriculture such as cropping and livestock.

Table 4-4 Key socio-economic information of Nasom Village Socio-economic factors Numbers Population 1,692 (48% women; 67% of population aged 14-60 year old) No. households 319 Main occupation (ranking) 1. Cropping

2. Livestock 3. Handicraft and rural trade 4. Labour and others

Prioritized food security (ranking) 1. Rice 2. Vegetables 3. Meats from livestock, fish and other aquatic animals 4. Non-timber forest products and wildlife

Source: SUFORD (2011)

Key agro-ecosystem information of Nasom Village was summarized in Table 4-4 below. The

village area covered 1,746 ha of which 41% of the total village area was considered as forest

areas. There were four water resources used for agriculture and consumption in the village.

Agriculture areas were accounted for 28% of the total village areas and dominated by rainfed

rice, upland crops and vegetable gardens. About 90% of the total households in the village did

rainfed rice cultivation.

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Table 4-5 Key agro-ecosystem information of Nasom Village Agro-ecosystem factors Numbers % of the total

village area No. of involved households

Remark

Village area 1,746 ha 100% Water resources

- Small streams 2 Huay Japha and Huay Pong - Small rivers 2 Nam Pang and Nam Torm

Forest resources 717.3 ha 41% Conservation forest 502 ha 29% Production forest 210.3 ha 12% Spiritual forest 5 ha 0.3% Agriculture 483.04 ha 28% Rainfed rice 284.54 ha 16% 288 (90% of

total households) 0.16 ha per household

Upland crops and gardens 198.5 ha 11% 21 (for gardening)

0,61 ha per household

Livestock - Cattle 1,574 Raise in the village forest zone - Buffalo 94 - Goat 18 - Pig 1,370 Raise near houses, gardens and

rice field - Poultry 15,000 Raise near houses, gardens and

rice field - Fish ponds 49 ponds 80 99,000 fish fingerlings

Source: SUFORD (2011)

4.2.2 Muangpa Village, Paklai District Muangpa Village, one of IRAS project villages in Paklai District is probably regarded one of the

oldest villages in Xayabury. Many elder people believed that this village was established for

more than 600 years. From 1991 to 1995, Hmong people had moved from high land areas in

search for lowland cultivation areas in Muangpa Village. They then registered officially in this

village. In Muangpa Village, almost 59% of the total population was Lao Loum while about 40%

was Hmong (DAFO, 2013) (see Table 4-7). Muangpa Village was also selected as one of the

prioritised development model village in Paklai District by the Lao Government which was

known as Sam Sang Village.

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Table 4-6 Key socio-economic information of Muangpa Village Socio-economic factors Numbers Population 2,867 (50% women) No. households 485 Main occupation (ranking) 1. Cropping

2. Raising large ruminants Prioritized food security (ranking) Source: DAFO (2013)

Key agro-ecosystem information of Muangpa Village was summarized in Table 4-8 below. The

village area covered 9,432.47 ha of which about 1.5% of the total village area was considered as

production forest such as teak and rubber. There were 23 small old irrigations and one large

irrigation which is currently rebuilt. Cropping in this village was diversified with lowland areas

being dominant by two-season rice cultivations, and upland areas being dominant by cash crop

such as maize, job tear, cassava and sesame. Some farmers plant vegetables such as onion,

cabbage, cucumber, etc. Raising livestock particularly large ruminants was regarded their

secondary important agricultural activities. Almost 1,500 large ruminants (66% cattle) were

raised by about 124 households in this village. There were 106 fish pond with the total area of

almost 17 ha.

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Table 4-7 Key agro-ecosystem information of Maungpa Village Agro-ecosystem factors Numbers % of the total

village area No. of involved households

Remark

Village area 9,432.47 ha 100% Water resources

- Small old irrigation

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- Large irrigation 1 300 ha capacity being re-infrastructure

Forest resources Conservation forest NA Production forest (teak, rubber)

139 ha 1.5% 82% teak

Agriculture Rice 592.3 ha 6% 225 3 tons per ha; 73% rainfed rice Maize) 230.01 ha 2% Job tear 295.97 ha 3% 186 Cassava 1.92 ha Less than 1% Sesame 1.7 ha Less than 1% Horticulture 4.86 ha Less than 1% Livestock

- Cattle 967 100 - Buffalo 493 24 - Goat 89 - Pig 1,237 30 - Poultry 6,755 22 - Fish ponds 106 16.94 ha with 114,750 fish

fingerling Source: DAFO (2013)

4.2.3 Recommendations for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities in the two selected villages

Table 4-8 presents main constraints to agro-ecosystem which is increasingly vulnerable to

climate change adaptation in Nasom and Muangpa Villages. Recommendations and justification

for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for climate change adaptation were also discussed.

Although agro-ecosystem and socio-economic factors of the two villages were different, these

villages have encountered similar problems in sustainable agriculture and environmental and

resource management. Such problems have increasingly been vulnerable to farmers with

increasingly unpredictable climate change. Therefore, general recommendation for training

sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for climate change adaptation is urgently needed (Table

4-8). It should be noted that specific sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for each village may

be different. These activities will be implemented by selected model farmers from the two

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villages after completing sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for climate change adaptation by

the NAFRI team.

Table 4-8 Key constraints to present agro-ecosystem being vulnerable to climate change adaptation in two target villages Agro-ecosystem factors

Constraints Recommendation Justification

Water resources - unpredictable climate change particularly severe flash flooding results in soil and nutrient runoffs in upland agro-ecosystem; - low and possibly contaminated water quality due to soil and herbicide/pesticide runoffs during the wet season; - lack of watershed management at village level

- raise awareness of the importance of forestation and watershed management; - link construction of irrigation dams with sustainable watershed management - introduce agro-forestry to watershed management in order to enhance food security for climate change adaptation

- Deforestation and expansion of unsustainable agriculture especially in upland areas result in environmental and natural resource degradation. Such phenomena contribute climate change such as unpredictably severe flood and drought

Forest resources

Agriculture

Rainfed and irrigated rice

- old rice seeds resulted in low production and vulnerable to rice disease - lack of flood tolerant rice seeds and technical knowledge on how to increase rice productivity - application of chemical fertilizer leads to soil compaction

- introduce new rice seeds and flood tolerant seeds to farmer groups with sustainable soil management toward using organic fertilizer - introduce integrated rice cultivation with legumes in order to improve soil nutrients

- climate change adaptation requires farmers to increase rice productivity with minimum environmental consequences so that food security can be achieved

Upland crops

- soil nutrient runoffs in upland areas; - continuous cropping (maize) results in increasingly low crop production; - increase in weed and pest results in increase in herbicide and pesticide

- introduce integrated upland crop cultivation with legumes and without tillage in order to improve soil nutrients; - train farmers how to make organic fertilizers

- upland areas are more vulnerable to climate change than lowland areas due to more severe nutrient runoffs. This negatively affects food security. Sustainable upland cropping needs to be introduced.

Horticulture

- insufficient water for horticulture such as vegetables and fruit crops during the dry season.

- introduce sustainable horticulture to farmer groups (especially women) towards applying water efficiency from underground water and using organic fertilizer

- climate change often results in degradation of environmental and natural resources especially water. This leads to decline in agricultural productivity, thereby affecting food security. Sustainable horticulture can provide farmers (women) alternative demand-driven agricultural activities which could generate income, thereby enhance

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their livelihoods Livestock

- Cattle

- minimum management to ruminant animals leads to low productivity and animals be susceptible; - insufficient feed and forage especially during the dry season results in female animals and calves malnutrition, thereby affecting animal breeding and growth respectively; - minimum herd management and breed improvement result in slow growth and less feed consumption efficiency

- introduce appropriate animal management especially for female animals and calves; - introduce drought and flood tolerant forage seeds (especially legumes) to farmer groups as quality feed. Legumes can also be used as feed for pigs and poultry, and improve soil nutrient; - introduce by-product crops and multi-nutrition block as additional feed for animals during severe drought conditions; - introduce artificial insemination of good drought-tolerant breeds to indigenous animals so that high animal growth and productivity can be enhanced

- ruminant animals especially cattle are often regarded as farmers’ vital assets which can be liquidated when cash is needed. Climate change such as severe drought often causes severely insufficient feed for these animals. Appropriate feed management can address such issues particularly in areas where by-product crops are largely available. Thus, improving animal productivity toward feed and breed management is vital to enhancing food security and livelihoods toward selling more animals. - raising ruminant animals (cattle) by smallholders significantly contributed less greenhouse gas than industrialized animals in developed countries. Instead, manure from these animals are good organic fertilizer for smallholder’s cropping and gardening.

- Buffalo

- Goat

- Pig

- insufficient knowledge of how to make good feed nutrition using local by-product crops;

- train farmer groups on good feed management using local inputs

Climate change often leads to decline in availability of feed resource. Such unpredictable and hash climate conditions require farmers to use feed resources efficiently and effectively. Making nutritional feed by using local inputs as much as possible can reduce feed costs, thereby increasing in profitability from animal sales.

- Poultry

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4.3 Participatory planning at the Agricultural Extension Service Center Conducting participatory research for the IRAS project with the Agricultural Extension Service

Centers in Phieng and Paklai Districts is important for sustainable agro-ecosystem for climate

change adaptation in project villages. Technical staff in these extension centers will be trained

with appropriate agricultural knowledge and technologies by the NAFRI research centers in the

field of forest and watershed management, soil management, livestock and fisheries and crop and

horticulture. The staff will be trained along with farmer groups in the two target villages. Once

the staff has sufficient training and knowledge, they would be able to help the IRAS project to

expand sustainable agro-ecosystem activities to other project villages. The first important step in

achieving such outcomes is to create agro-ecosystem demonstration sites at their extension

centers. Co-research between the NAFRI team and the extension staff in these activities are

believed to yield good outcomes for the IRAS project. Establishing agro-ecosystem

demonstration activities at the extension centers focuses on producing good quality drought and

flood tolerant seeds and nurseries for agriculture (forest, crop, horticulture) and livestock and

fisheries (particularly poultry and fish fingerlings). Co-research also needs to focus on efficient

utilization of local resources as key inputs for crops and livestock.

In this field work, the NAFRI team together with PAFO staff visited the the Agricultural

Extension Service Center in Phieng and Paklai Districts to assess human resources, facilities and

potentials for conducting co-research and creating agro-ecosystem demonstration sites in the two

extension centers.

Table 4-9 below summarised the planned activities and key constraints for the Agricultural

Extension Service Center in Phieng District. There were 9 staff members in the extension center

who are excited to be trained and involved in sustainable agro-ecosystem activities which are

important for climate change adaptation. The extension center covers 3 ha and appeared to have

basic infrastructure and facilities (especially aquaculture) to conduct agro-ecosystem

demonstration sites. The extension center was situated close to Namtarn Irrigation dam which

provide good water quality and quantity for the center to conduct demonstration sites.

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Table 4-9 Agricultural Extension Service Center of Phieng District

Sector No. staff interested in training

Planned activities

Supporting facilities

Constraints Needs/proposed activities linked to IRAS

Crop and horticulture

2 - create demonstration plots for organic agriculture (e.g. chili) - produce fruit trees (mango, lychee) - produce vegetable seeds

Good allocated plots (200 m2)

- lack of finance, technical knowledge and some equipments

- need seasonal and non-seasonal vegetable and fruit tree seeds - need good technical knowledge and technologies for producing horticulture seeds

Livestock 3 (1 women)

- produce chicken

Some vacant areas can be used for forage plots

- same as above - learn how to produce livestock feeds (ruminant, pig and poultry) - create forage (legume) plots - learn how to conduct artificial insemination to ruminant animals - learn how to produce and raise chicken with low mortality - create chicken hatcheries and nurseries for good indigenous chicken breed

Fisheries 3 (2 women)

- produce fish fingerlings (Tilapia, carp and Pa Pak) - raise fish in 5 ponds

1 old hatchery structure; 5 fish ponds; good water sources

- same as above - occasional flooding

- train staff on how to produce fish fingerling, raise fish in a good system with low costs - create broodstock and hatchery tanks

Forestry 2 - produce tree seeds for teak and decoration trees

Good allocated plots (200 m2)

- same as above - lack of good seeds - lack of knowledge on seed producing, forestation, forest allocation and conservation of water and soil

- train staff on how to produce tree seeds, plantation and watershed management - create tree seed plots

Soil conservation

9 - produce organic fertilizer and improve soil nutrients

Some vacant areas to conduct soil conservation activities

- same as above - lack of staff specializing soil conservation - lack of land use planning

- train staff on soil conservation and soil nutrient improvement by making organic fertilizer - introduce SCV - learn how to make land use planning

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Table 4-10 presents summary of current activities and constraints in the Agricultural Extension

Service Center of Paklai District. The extension center covers 10 ha and is situated close to

irrigation dam which provides good water sources for conducting agricultural activities. There

were 13 staff members in the center. As the center was newly established, few infrastructure and

facilities were built. The center is also situated close to a large upland field of maize cultivation.

Creating demonstration sites for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for climate change

adaptation may get attention for farmers who want to improve their agricultural productivity with

minimal environmental and resource degradation.

Table 4-10 Agricultural Extension Service Center of Paklai District

Sector No. staff interested in training

Planned activities

Supporting facilities

Constraints Needs/proposed activities linked to IRAS*

Crop and horticulture

4 Undecided - good water sources, but require pumping for irrigated demonstration plots for horticulture and forage

- minimal fund to conduct other agricultural activities - insufficient technical knowledge and technologies to conduct experiments especially sustainable agriculture

- create a demonstration site for producing vegetable seeds as well as organic vegetable products

Livestock 2 Undecided - create a demonstration site for raising indigenous pigs using local inputs as low-cost feed - create a demonstration site for fattening cattle using by-product crops (e.g. maize, cassava, job tear) - create drought and flood torrent forage plots

Forestry 3 (1 women)

Undecided - create economic tree nurseries

Soil conservation

13 Undecided - create demonstration plot by planting crops with legume

Fisheries 3 Cage culture

Good water sources

- raise fish in cage using local inputs as low cost feed

*topics for training the staff were identical to those for the staff of the extension center in Phieng District

5 Finance The budget for this participatory planning activity was requested for 69,460,000 LAK. 91% of

the requested budget was used for this field activity (Table 5-1).

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Table 5-1 Table for financing for participatory planning activity

Account # Budget available Budget spent Remaining balance

For participatory planning activity

69,460,000 LAK 64,000,000 5,460,000

6 Recommendation of upcoming activities The study results from the participatory planning with local stakeholders in this fieldwork were

used as a baseline for the upcoming sustainable agro-ecosystem activities for climate change

adaptation. Table 6-1 presents recommendation for next activities for sustainable agro-ecosystem

activities for climate change adaptation. There are three main activities needed to implement.

Training of sustainable agro-ecosystem management for climate change adaptation will be in

both theory and practice, and based on Climate Change Training and Adaptation Modules for

Lao PDR (CCTAM). This training is directed to farmer groups of the two selected villages and

staff members of the Agriculture Extension Service Centers of the two districts.

Along with the training, it is important to identify model farmers and farmer groups (who are

fitted into the NAFRI’s research criteria) to implement sustainable agro-ecosystem activities

(livestock, fisheries, horticulture and crops, forestry and soil conservation). The next activities

also focus on conducting co-research with extension staff members to create demonstration sites

of sustainable agro-ecosystem activities at the Agriculture Extension Service Centers.

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Table 6-1 Recommendation for next activities for sustainable agro-ecosystem activities

Activities Target groups Expected date Training of sustainable agro-ecosystem management for climate change adaptation (theory and practice)

- farmer groups in the two selected villages; - staff members from the extension center of DAFO

September – October (1 week for each district)

Selecting model farmers and farmer groups to implement sustainable agro-ecosystem activities (livestock, fisheries, horticulture and crops, forestry and soil conservation)

- model farmers and farmer groups in the two selected villages; - PAFO and DAFO staff for monitoring and evaluation with the NAFRI team

September – October (1 week for each district)

Conduct co-research with extension staff members to create demonstration sites of sustainable agro-ecosystem activities at the Agriculture Extension Service Centers

- staff members from the extension center of DAFO; - PAFO and DAFO staff for monitoring and evaluation with the NAFRI team

September – October (1 week for each district)

Total 3 weeks

7 Conclusion Sustainable agro-ecosystem for climate change adaptation requires appropriate forest and

watershed management and sustainable agricultural activities. Unpredictable climate change

such as extent or severe drought and flood often results in decline in agricultural productivity and

feed resources. It requires farmers to wisely use their natural resources and inputs to produce

sufficient agricultural outputs with minimal environmental and natural degradation. This report

presented the preliminary assessment of key agro-ecosystem factors in the two selected villages

and local agricultural extension centers in Phieng and Paklai District. The objective was to come

up with participatory planning for the upcoming sustainable agro-ecosystem activities at the

village level.

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Annexes Annex 1: Agenda of participatory planning in Xayabury

Date Activities Place

11/8/2013 Travel Vientiane-Xayabury

12/8/2013 Organizing the participatory workshop at PAFO Xayabury

13/8/2013

Travel and visit the Agricultural Extension Service Center at Phieng District

– Conduct participatory planning with the local extension staff for creating demonstration sites

– Visit Nasom Village and see the IRAS previous activities at the village – Make appointment with the village committee and farmer groups

Phieng District

14-15/8/2013 − Participatory planning with farmer groups − Discuss with District IRAS and report to DAFO

Nasom, Phieng District

16/8/2012

Travel and visit the Agricultural Extension Service Center at Paklai District

– Conduct participatory planning with the local extension staff for creating demonstration sites

– Visit Muangpa Village and see the IRAS previous activities at the village

– Make appointment with the village committee and farmer groups

Paklai District

17-18/8/2012 − Participatory planning with farmer groups − Discuss with District IRAS and report to DAFO

Muangpa, Paklai District

19/8/2013 Travel Xayabury-Vientiane

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Annex 3: Participatory workshop with local stakeholders at PAFO

Introduction of sustainable agro-ecosystem activities

Group discussion among DAFO staff of Paklai

Group discussion among DAFO staff of Paklai

DAFO Representative from Phieng presented discussion results

DAFO Representative from Paklai presented discussion results

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Annex 4: Participatory planning with farmer groups at Nasom Village, Phieng District

Introduction of the NAFRI team to farmer groups

Livestock farmer groups discussed with the team from Livestock Research Center

Field visit to assess farmers’ agricultural activities (recently flooded in rice field)

Farmer groups saw presentation from the NAFRI team

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Annex 5: Participatory planning at Agricultural Extension Service Center, Phieng District

Discussion between the NAFRI team and the extension staff

The extension staff explained their planned activities, constraints and potential to create demonstration sites

Planned nurseries for vegetables and tree seeds

Assess water sources (Namtarn irrigation dam)

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Annex 6: Participatory planning with farmer groups at Muangpa Village, Paklai District

Village headman presented key information

Field visit to assess farmers’ agricultural activities (aquaculture)

Field visit to see cattle from one of livestock farmer groups

Farmer’s forage plot

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Annex 7: Participatory planning at Agricultural Extension Service Center, Paklai District

Annex 8: List of Participants

Discussion between the NAFRI team and the extension staff

Good water sources close to the center

Downstream view of the irrigation