A villager cutting sugarcane in Ban Nam KeungKao.Bokeo Brown, the finalproduct.

Bokeo Brown Concept Paper

Background

The idea of Bokeo Brown was initiated when another story wasabout to end: the story of traditional brown sugar making in BanNam Keung Kao. It is a quiet village near upstream Mekong,where brown sugar making was a traditional and seasonal form of livelihood, and was also a widespread activity in Northern Laos.Today the villagers, especially the younger ones, find themselvesfully absorbed instead in growing rubber as an export resourceand promoted by considerable Chinese investment in rubberplantations. Against such a backdrop, only a diminishing numberof elderly villagers still engage in traditional brown sugar makingfor small-scale local consumption. The firewood required for thisproduction has become increasingly difficult to find due torampant deforestation for rubber plantations.As one of the only two sugar cane producing villages in the wholeof northern Laos (the other one in Oudomxay Province), Ban NamKeung Kao now faces the long-term risk of over dependency onone single crop, rubber. Preserving cane sugar making techniquesthrough improved working conditions and increased marketaccess will make a significant contribution to local incomediversification. Furthermore, BsE aims to develop a variety of canesugar based products with additions of cardamom, ginger,cinnamon and other local spices. Adding value to all thesenatural and organic local ingredients ultimately speaks to a largerpurpose of bio-diversity preservation in the region that is nowunder considerable economic and ecological pressure from largerubber investment.

The Idea

Brown sugar, manually produced from sugar cane, offers greaterhealth benefits than white sugar as it retains most of the minerals,and some naturally present vitamins of the cane juice. In addition,BsE also recognizes the cultural and social significance of thetraditional sugar manufacturing method for local producers.Preserving these techniques will add value to the raw materialand contribute to income diversification for villagers whoincreasingly rely on planting rubber rather than sugar cane.Furthermore, adapting such traditional livelihoods at this time of

Working over thetraditional stove.

rapid commercialization will provide a renewed culturalreference for future generations.By utilizing the intervention of our value-chain system, BsE will seek to improve workingconditions, provide environmental and economical energysolutions, increase productivity, and quality control. The endproducts will be promoted through BsE’s local and global networkthrough our on-line store. The products will therefore reachexpanded markets yielding improved and enhanced prices. Thetraditional brown sugar making technique and livelihood will alsobe preserved and become economically sustainable. BsE’spromotion aims to improve awareness of local livelihoods andculture during this period of change.

Intervention

Our specific intervention will be focused toward improvingproductivity, product quality for the various products combinedwith increased job safety and skills development:

Group Formation

A group of 10 families (approximately one hundred persons) havebeen selected to form the foundation group for the creation of acooperative.

Energy Efficiency and Job Safety

BsE intends to introduce a new stove fueled by the widelyavailable rice husks, sawdust and sugar cane fiber waste toreplace the traditional firewood stove. This would ease theburden to walk for long and far distances to collect firewood thatis increasingly difficult to find due to deforestation. On average,30 kg of wood is required daily to produce 14 kg of sugar. Wewill also improve and re-design the work station to elevate thestove, to make operation easier. The traditional low stove andworking platform is dangerous for elderly villagers who arerequired to bend over and lean very close to the fire.

Organic Certification

Bokeo Brown™ is produced from sugar cane grown by villagerswithout pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Therefore, BokeoBrown™ can be considered as an organic product. Currently itlacks the commercial advantage of being recognized asinternationally recognized with organic certification. BsE willcontinue its work with producers and the Lao Department of