2010 年 47 巻 4 号 p. 374-402
The purpose of this study is to clarify the trade flow of agro-forest products and commodities by analyzing commercial activities and private traders in a mountainous region. This study focused on Ngoi district of Luang Phabang province in northern Laos where there is a long history of non-timber forest product (NTFP) trading in the study area.
In the Lān Xāng Kingdom era, political coordinators called Lām collected agro-forest products from mountain people as tax, and private traders purchased NTFPs, mainly benzoin and cardamom. Then, under the communist regime in the period between 1960 and 1986, private traders were replaced by government-managed stores and the role of the Lām disappeared. After the Lao version of Perestroika or Chintanakan Mai in 1986, private agro-forest product trading was re-established in the study area and in addition, general stores and periodic markets appeared along the riverside. The re-establishment of agroforest product trading resulted from the stimulation of commodity flows due to the local general stores and periodic markets, and vice versa.
During the Chintanakan Mai period, the NTFPs being traded in the study area were not traditional foods or medicines but rather new products being exported to foreign countries, especially China. The borders with Thailand, China, and Vietnam in northern Laos were re-opened in the early 1990s, after which Chinese traders came directly to northern Laos to purchase NTFPs. This paper shows how the stimulation of human mobility, commodity distribution, and information flow observed after Chintanakan Mai has strongly affected the livelihood of the mountain people.
