Shifting cultivation is the most common agricultural practice among farmers in the northern uplands of the Lao PDR. Alongside this agricultural practice many types of indigenous agroforestry systems have been practiced for many decades as people use the forests and forested land to grow different crops. Such practices range from a few silvicultural treatments in the natural forest to get a desired product to highly advanced systems where trees, animals and plants grow together so that they can benefit from each other. This article focuses on describing key indigenous agroforestry systems practiced in northern Laos.
