Characterizing highland maize-mixed farming systems of Lao PDR’s Xiengkhouang Province (Kham, Moke, Nonghet): statistical analysis and participatory validation

Farmers adjust farming practices and operations to fit varied and changing environments, meet increasing demand for nutritious food and feed for humans and animals, respond to expansive animal and crop based industrial growth, while sustaining ecological health. In recent decades, the change in farming systems has accelerated at an exponential rate with divergent pathways across regions. The transformations range from conversion of land use and cover, extensification, intensification, optimization to modern precision farming.