Browsing by Author "Nevalainen, Sara"

Coffee is one of the most important export crops of Laos. In recent years, the coffee farming communities have been under strain due to a decline in global coffee prices. The price volatility has resulted in livelihood insecurity and led to the coffee farmers adopting various adaptive strategies, including livelihood diversification and migration. In Laos, coffee is mostly grown in shade management systems incorporating several tree species. Shade coffee is typically considered an ecologically sustainable agricultural system, producing a wide array of ecosystem services. This socioeconomic case study was conducted in the Champasak Province, Southern Laos. The objective was to study the role of coffee agroforestry in the livelihoods of two local communities, Ban Nong Luang and Ban Phu Makko. A semi-structured household survey (n=80) was conducted in June 2014 and complemented with group interviews and participatory methods. All households cultivated coffee, though most of them had also several other means of livelihood. The coffee species included robusta, arabica and catimor, a fast-growing hybrid variety of arabica. The coffee plots owned by a single household averaged 4 hectares, and all respondents were smallholder farmers. The coffee gardens were also a source of a variety of ecosystem services and subsistence income, including firewood, food, fodder, and building materials. Most households cultivated 2-3 varieties of coffee combined with one or more shade tree species. Traditional management systems with robusta as the dominant species were gradually being replaced with C. Arabica var. catimor and Erythrina spp. During the course of the household survey, both villages were discovered having been subject to land concessions to foreign companies. 11 households in Phu Makko were interviewed on the land grab, and the responses showed the destructive impact of the land grab on individual households. Apart from land issues, the main challenges to the livelihoods continued to be the depressed coffee prices combined with the rising costs of inputs, particularly labor. Income diversification was a necessity for nearly all households. Main income sources included coffee-related wage work, livestock, and shop-keeping. The study also lists the main barriers to livelihood diversification as well as present recommendations, including the possibilities for coffee certification.