SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

5 - Peoples of the MekongFigure 7. Electricity consumption per capita (kWh), 1997-2000Sources: EEPSEA 2002; Ministry of Planning 1998b; NIS 1998; NSC 2001; NSC/UNDP 2002;3. Livelihoods, income and poverty in the Mekong RegionThe majority of people living in the basin rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Rice is the maincrop of most rural households, with 80-90 percent of farming households growing it as their principalcrop. In recent years, the economies of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam have begun a shifttowards market-oriented production and trade liberalisation. p They are progressively becoming moreindustrialised, as happened in Thailand 20-30 years ago. These changes are important factors affectinglivelihoods, incomes and poverty levels of people living in the region.3.1 Rural livelihoodsThroughout the basin, rural households grow rice and other food crops primarily for householdconsumption. In lowland areas, farmers are sedentary, while in upland areas, farmers engage inshifting cultivation. In the LMB, most of the rice crop is rain-fed, usually grown as a single cropduring the rainy season. Dry season rice production is limited to the estimated 7-10 percent ofcultivated land that is irrigated. q Generally, due to low use of agricultural inputs (improved seed,fertilisers, pesticides etc.), high reliance on human and animal labour and unpredictable rains, floodsand droughts, overall productivity is low and rice yields vary considerably from year to year. Whensale of small surpluses of rice is possible, profits barely cover production costs. An exception, however,as discussed below, is the Mekong Delta, where modernisation of production has made Viet Nam theworld’s second largest producer of rice.Subsistence farmers also grow a variety of vegetables and other food crops, primarily during the dryseason. Governments are encouraging small-scale farmers to grow a greater variety of annual andperennial cash crops. For example, in the upland regions of the Korat Plateau in Thailand, there hasbeen a dramatic growth in cash crops such as corn and cassava since the 1950s, when the governmentcreated incentive programs and constructed roads that provided access to markets. 89In many rural areas, raising livestock is an important source of household income, for example,accounting for more than half of farmers’ income in Lao PDR. 90 Large animals such as buffalo arevaluable as draft animals and as a form of savings. Thus, overall, lack of ownership of animals isstrongly related to poverty.pSee also, Chapter 6 on macro-economicsqSee also, Chapter 8 on agriculture (irrigation)59