This document discusses shifting cultivation (also known as swidden or slash-and-burn agriculture) practices in Vietnam. It notes that about 50 of Vietnam's 54 ethnic minority groups practice shifting cultivation, with over 2.8 million people across 482,512 households engaged in this practice. The areas where shifting cultivation is commonly practiced include central Vietnam and the coastal regions of north and south central Vietnam. The document also discusses some of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of shifting cultivation, noting both its sustainability in some contexts but also the negative environmental impacts it can have if not properly managed, including deforestation and erosion.

1. Introduction
Shifting Cultivation in Vietnam:its social, economic and environmental values relative
to alternative land use
Dr. Do Dinh Sam
Hanoi, 1994
Vietnam’s ‘ethnic minorities’ may be divided into 54 different groups, of
which 50 practise shifting cultivation. The total population of the ethnic
minorities is about 9 million. According to 1989 data, the total number of
people engaged in shifting cultivation was 2,879,685, in 482,512 households.
The area under shifting cultivation is about 3.5 million hectares, in the
following provinces (see also Figure 4).
In central Vietnam, including the coastal regions of north central Vietnam and the
coastal region of south central Vietnam, the Dao, Vankieu, Xodang, H’re, Co,
and Khomu ethnic groups live mainly in the moderately high belt (400-500 m)
and in the low belt (200-300 m). For example:
• after choosing a suitable area for slash-and-burn cultivation, the Nung people
clear a boundary line, and insert a post with a bamboo stick into the ground to
signify the ownership: this is recognised by others;
the sustainability of shifting agriculture in three aspects: economic,
environmental and social. The team proposed to study this by analysing and
determining:
• criteria for evaluating the sustainability of shifting agriculture in
economic, environmental and social aspects;
• conditions to ensure sustainability;
how to ensure sustainability in the actual situation at present.

2. o The mountainous area of mainland Southeast Asia is an enormous, ecologically vital
region comprising about half of the land area of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand,
Vietnam, and China’s Yunnan Province.
o The region harbors an immense wealth of natural resources, including globally
important stocks of forests and biological diversity; it is home to a rich heritage of
indigenous cultures; and it is the headwaters of major Southeast Asian river systems.
Despite new opportunities in growing cash crops on the fertile red land in highland
areas, large tracts of previous forest have been destroyed by lumbering operations and
shifting cultivation is still practised by some ethnic minority families in Huong Hoa.
With an annual rainfall of 2,900mm, much of Quang Tri's mountains and hills
have become eroded. Carrying eroded soil from the highlands and midlands, the 12
main rivers of the province with a surface area of 3,600 km2 often overflow in the rainy
season. Some of their tributaries continue to change course as their beds fill with silt.
Swidden cultivation is having an increasingly negative impact on Vietnam’s
environment. (Which has created the false impression that it is the major cause of
deforestation.) If swidden farming persists for a long time (as it almost certainly will,
since so many people do it to survive) and if it is becoming less rather than more
sustainable, then the situation poses a grave threat not just to the quality of life of
upland ethnic minorities, but to the well-being of the entire society. If left unaddressed,
this problem will likely produce negative consequences for social stability, economic
development, environmental protection, and the conservation of biodiversity, and many
other areas of vital national interest.