Thesis Abstract of AGS Students

Cai Kui (1996)

This Study was conducted in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China which is well-known for its rich flora and fauna, and many ethnic minorities. Three villages of different ethnic groups were selected to represent the study area. The objectives of the study were to describe the land use changes at village level, compare land uses and their changes among different ethnic groups, identify driving forces of thesis changes, and analyze local response to these changes.

As the means to achieve objectives, the information was collected by methods of RRA (Rapid Rural Appraisal, PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal), discussion and formal questionnaire. Statistics also was gathered. The systematic perspective approach was applied for data analysis together with description and area response function. The Chow test was used to compare farmer's responses on land use to marketing development among different ethnic groups.

The results revealed that the land use pattern has greatly changed in the last 15 years. The main changes manifested in general were: deforestation, more intensive use of paddy land, a shortened fallow period and an extended cultivation on upland, decreasing of shifting cultivation area, increasing area of cash crops, planting of hybrid varieties and plantation trees. However, there still are some detailed differences in these changes among different ethnic groups. Comparatively, Dai people cultivate more intensive on paddy land than the other two ethnic groups, Hani and Jinuo villagers produce more subsistence crops on upland than the Dai; and deforestation is more serious in the Hani village than in those of Dai and Jinuo. The evidence shows that the great differences in traditional land use among Dai, Jinuo and Hani have gradually disappeared.

The Main driving forces of these land use changes were population pressure, development of technology, improvement of transportation infrastructure, inadequate irrigation system, the development of marketing and tourism, and government intervention, population growth increased the demand for subsistence crops, and led to expansion of upland cultivation and shorter fallow periods of shifting cultivation. Development of technology provided new species and varieties to farmers and increased the productivity. Improvement of transportation offered farmers a convenient access to market, and further increased the input on land use and production of cash crops. An inadequate irrigation system was a major constraint on land use which had an impact on production of both staple food and cash crops on paddy land; and damage by flood on paddy land in all three villages was directly caused by lack of irrigation system improvement. Development of marketing increased the production of cash crops, but decreased the production of some traditional subsistence crops, and further decreased the traditional crop varieties. Development of tourism provided more consumers and employment opportunities to the farmers, and it is the incentive for cash crop production, wild plant and animal collection, this consequently poses a potential risk of damaging natural resources. Government intervention which included land tenure policies, planting quota of some crops, technical extension, input on infrastructure, etc., had both positive and negative influences on land use.

In the face of similar socio-economic changes particularly rapid development of marketing, farmers of different ethnic groups made similar response in their land use.

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