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trees and other perennial crops. However, price fluctuations and unstable marketscaused by undeveloped postharvest facilities and marketing institutions are preventingthe stable development of fruit trees in the region. In many cases, farmers havebeen forced to cut down one type of tree in order to grow another tree species thatproduces more marketable products or they found the harvesting cost higher than themarket price of the product (Tuyen 1995, Dang 1993).Although the area planted to upland rice is declining, it is the main food cropfor the millions of poor people and the ethnic minorities. Upland rice is grown aloneor in diverse mixtures in shifting or permanent fields under a wide range of conditionsof climate, slope, and soil type. Upland rice area during 1980-85 expanded rapidlybecause of food scarcity as the productivity of lowland rice was low. However,after the decollectivization of agriculture, the area of upland rice has declined, especiallysince 1990. According to official statistics, the total area planted to upland ricein the northern mountain region is reported to be between 100,000 and 120,000 ha.Current state policy, however, is to discourage shifting cultivation and limit the areasopen for upland rice. Therefore, the reported upland rice area tends to be severelybiased downward. On the other hand, conducted surveys show that villagers failed toreport fields in remote areas or decreased the area under cultivation that is subject totaxation. The use of remote imagery in a selected commune in Son La Province foundthat the actual worked area is much larger than the reported area (Sikor and Truong1998).Ethnicity and production systems in the northern mountainous regionThe production systems in the northern uplands are generally determined by the differentagroecological conditions and cultural and food preferences of the diverse ethnicgroups. There are 31 ethnic groups belonging to seven language groups living inthe northern uplands. The six largest groups are the Tay (1 million), the Thai and theNung (0.6 million each), and the H’Mong, Muong, and Dzao (0.5 million each). Seventeengroups have populations under 10,000. Each group usually has its own distinctivecustoms and traditions, socioeconomic characteristics, and community structures.However, many ethnic groups are also quite diverse internally. For example,although sharing a common language, the H’Mong are divided into several distinctsubgroups (e.g., Red H’Mong, Black H’Mong, Flowered H’Mong). Many ethnicgroups live intermixed with one another within the same delimited territory. Of the109 districts and towns in the northern mountain provinces, 59 districts have ten ormore ethnic groups. Residential segregation by ethnic group is common only at thehamlet level (Khong Dien 1996, Vien 1997).The H’Mong live on high slopes and mountain ridges, usually at altitudes above800 m. They cultivate maize or monocropped rice on swidden fields in combinationwith wet rice on terraces. The H’Mong of Meo Vac and Dong Van in Ha Giang Provinceinhabit high-altitude cold regions, and rely only on maize monocropping. Thesequence of crops after slash-and-burn agriculture commonly practiced by the H’Mongis sticky rice–nonsticky rice–maize–barley–Job’s tears (Coix lacryma) or cassava.376 Khiem et al