Sustainable Sloping Lands and Watershed Management Conference Farming System Options for Poverty Alleviation in the Sloping Lands of Northern Laos: How Pro-Poor Are They?

Sustainable development of sloping lands in the Lao PDR requires striking a balance between natural resource conservation and poverty alleviation among upland communities. Participatory farm systems research could be one area where farmers, researchers and extension staff jointly develop pro-poor land-use alternatives to shifting cultivation on sloping lands. Responding to the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy of the Lao government and to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the Lao-Swedish Upland Agriculture and Forestry Research Programme (LSUAFRP) evaluated 12 al-ternative farming systems in its nine project villages, which are located in Phonsay district, Luang Pra-bang and Namo district, Oudomxay, two of the ten priority poorest districts. Through these alternative farming practices, the LSUAFRP aims to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of participating households. Farming systems research was used to assess the performance of each alternative practice, specifically in terms of productivity, profitability, sustainability and acceptability to farmers. But how pro-poor was the research process? At the end of the 2004-2005 cropping season, participatory monitoring and evaluation revealed positive responses. Many participating farmers said they liked the new practices because compared to their tradi