2-5. The Outlook for Cotton Production and its Ecological Aptitudes in the Lao P.D.R. Mitsuru SONOE Summary This report aims at elucidating the present situation of cotton production in Lao P.D.R. (herein after referred to as Laos) and proposing an outlook for the development of cotton production by ecologically adaptive ways. In Laos, indigenous cotton varieties have traditionally been grown not for supplying industrial material, but for self-consumption by households. Traditional cotton varieties grown in Laos are fāi nō֊i and fāi tūn, belonging to the tree cotton family (Gossypium arboretum); fāi nyai, belonging to the upland cotton family (G. hirsutum); and fāi chan, a variety of sea-island cotton (G. barbadense). Fāi tūn has light brown fibres. While fāi nō֊i is the main variety of cotton produced in Laos with comparatively high potential, production of other varieties must increase to make fine yarn as industrial material. Therefore, it should be necessary to increase production of other cotton varieties for this purpose. At the present time, there are two centres of cotton production in Laos: around Luang Phabang, the mountainous area of the northern region, and Savannakhet–Champasak in the Mekong Corridor of the central region. Furthermore, agro-ecology in these two regions is clearly differentiated. In the north, fāi nō֊i has been cultivated chiefly in slash-and-burn fields on slopes, while in the central region, fāi nō֊i is cultivated at the back of paddy fields in the rainy season and fāi nyai at river terraces in the dry season. Both agro-ecosystems have high land productivities, maintained by intercropping with no manure applying and low land pressure, especially in the northern region. However, labour shortages in the farming season, especially when harvesting cotton bolls, leads to the introduction of foreign matter and damage to the cotton fibre’s quality. Until 2002, the company Lao Cotton LPQ had promoted contract cotton cultivation in the northern region. Contract nonfulfillment, the intervention of Thai merchants, and the limitation of the domestic market may have contributed to its unsuccessful end. While the demand for cotton production in Thailand far exceeds the supply, the length of Lao cotton fibres—38 millimeters and below—means Lao cotton as industrial material is not a direct market competitor. Nevertheless, the lack of domestic traffic facilities in Laos means cotton is temporarily exported to Thailand and re-imported into Laos as cotton yarns, thus still depriving the Laos processing industry. From an agro-ecosystem viewpoint, cotton production in both the northern and central regions of Laos has huge potential. The fāi nō֊i cotton production in the north can be replaced by fāi nyai or fāi chan production with a high added value. As for the central region, existing irrigation systems can be appropriated to expand cotton production in the dry season. －196－ In any case, Lao cotton production can be further developed as a means of increasing income in rural economies and of producing industrial products by creating domestic demand and improving production-to-distribution channels. It can also be used to create a new “chemical-free” brand or offer different products such as the sea-island cotton of the West Indies and Swatow, China. －197－ Contents 1. Overview of Cotton Production in Lao P.D.R. 2. Cotton Production Environment and Cultivation Technology in Lao P. D. R. (Comparison of the Montane Area of Northern Region and Mekong Corridor of Central Region) 3. Contract Cultivation Promoted by the Lao Cotton Luang Phabang Branch (FY2000/01 Report) 4. The Outlook for Cotton Production by Agro-Ecosystem and Variety 5. Appendix: Comparison with Cotton Production and Market in Thailand (FY2000/01 Report) and Issues Concerning Raw Cotton Quality and Export/Import 1. Overview of Cotton Production in Lao P.D.R. For the most part, traditional cotton production in Lao P.D.R. (hereinafter referred to as Laos) was originally the work of such ethnic groups as Lue, Tai Dam (Black Tai), Lanten (Lao Huai), and Phutai to self-consumption. The major production areas are in the northern part of the country, in the provinces of Huaphan, Oudomxay, Luang Phabang, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly, and Xanyabouly. However, there are also production areas in the provinces Savannakhet and Champasak along Mekong River in Central and Southern Laos. The indigenous variety of cotton in Laos include fāi nō֊i, belonging to Gossypium arboretum tree cotton species which is native to India and grows to a height of more than 3 meters, and the fāi tūn, a variety whose fibre is a light-brown colour. In Northern Laos, cotton is grown in small lots or intercropped with other crops in slash-and-burn fields near settlements. In Mekong Corridor of Central and Southern Laos, cotton is cultivated in river terraces. There are documents dating back to the period of French Indochina that describe the promising prospect of “fay doc gniay” and “fay doc noc” cultivation especially in Northern Laos.1 In most cases, seed cotton is ginned using a traditional cotton gin to separate the seed from the cotton fibre to obtain raw cotton. The raw cotton is beaten with a cotton bow, wrapped around a narrow bamboo, and made into a cotton sliver ten-some centimetres long. The sliver is then spun using a spinning wheel with a steel spindle and woven into a white cloth. The cloth is dyed indigo or black with khām: Chinese indigo (Polygonum tinctorium), hō֊m : Assam indigo (Baphicacanthus cusia), and other such dyes and made into everyday clothes. There are some demands for the white cloth and indigo-dyed cotton as handicrafts today, but traditional cotton production is basically continued only as a small-scale cottage industry. There is large demand for cotton as industrial material, but long and uniform cotton fibre is indispensable for machine spinning and weaving thin cotton cloths. In this respect, tree cotton apparently has great potential, since it is highly resistant to diseases and it produces strong cotton fibre. However, strong though it may be, the cotton fibre of tree cotton is short, and for textile purposes, it can only be made into thick yarns below Count 30. The global trend today is leaning toward the cultivation of upland cotton (G. hirsutum), and many improvements are being made in its varieties. Upland cotton is regarded 1 Thése. 1927. De problème cotonnier et l’Indochine.: Paris. －198－ as a hybrid of Asian cotton and American wild cotton. For the above reason, cotton varieties cultivated for market purposes in Laos today are mainly the fāi nyai, one of the native varieties of upland cotton that can produce cotton fibre as long as 26 to 32 mm, and other upland cotton varieties such as Kham Khāo1 (length of cotton fibre: 32-34 mm), an F1 variety which originated in India, became native to Uzbekistan and was introduced to Laos in the 1990s, Kham Khāo3, an improved variety of Kham Khāo1, and the improved variety NH4 of Vietnam. The sections below discuss the present situation of cotton production in Laos through case studies of cotton cultivation in the montane area of northern region and Mekong Corridor of central region of Laos and the contract cultivation and cotton buying schemes of Lao Cotton Co., Ltd. which continued until 2002 in Northern Laos. Another section analyzes the suitability of cotton production from the perspective of agro-ecosystem. Finally, a supplementary discussion is provided on cotton production and market trends in Northeast Thailand. 2. Cotton Production Environment and Cultivation Technology in Laos (Comparison of the Montane Area of Northern Region and Mekong Corridor of Central Region) 1) The Montane Area of Northern Region (the cases of Luang Phabang and Oudomxay) Agriculturally suitable land in Northern Laos is generally limited by topographic constraints. Farming is conducted in a compound agro-ecosystem consisting of small-lot paddy fields along the river system and upland rice or industrial crops on slopes (see Fig. 1). In slash-and-burn fields in the north, crops are planted during the period when the savannah and bush fallow. Upland rice is the principle crop, and is alternately cultivated with sesame, Job’s tears (Coix lachryma-jobi), and cotton. After their harvest, the land is left fallow for one to two years. For cotton cultivation, the field is cleared by three to four people using machetes or knives in early April and is burned a month or so later. It is then surrounded by a barbed-wire fence to prevent the intrusion of livestock that graze in the woods. Around mid-May when it starts raining, seeds are sown using a digging stick. Their spacing differs according to variety, but it is approximately 70 × 100 cm for Kham Khāo varieties, 50 × 100 cm for fāi nyai, and 30 × 70 cm for fāi nō֊i and fāi tūn since these two varieties have no lateral branches. Among the modern varieties, Kham Khāo varieties are relatively suited to slope farming, so they can be cultivated with hardly any drop in their expected yield. Before the seeds are sown, they are kneaded with ash or dirt to remove the wax and linter from the seed surface. In slash-and-burn fields, the shortened fallow period causes a serious struggle for survival between crops and weeds. Therefore, until harvesting, weeding work accounts for an increasingly large share of all work related to cotton cultivation. Using a small hoe called wæk, the field is first weeded prior to sowing the seeds, and about three to six times after that at intervals of three to four weeks until harvesting. In the case of modern varieties, lateral branches are sometimes trimmed and the number of cotton bolls is controlled so that each boll can mature adequately.