Indigenous Management of Paper Mulberry in Swidden Rice Fields and Fallows in Northern Lao P.D.R.

Upland rice is currently grown on about 179,000 ha in Laos, accounting for about 31% of the country’s area under rice cultivation and about 21% of the national rice harvest (National Statistical Center 1995). Most upland rice is grown in the mountainous northern region, where it is the predominant cropping system. It accounts for more than 60% to 80% of the cultivated rice area in several provinces where paddy land is limited to narrow mountain valleys (Lao-IRRI Project 1996).