DISEÑO DE CARGOS Y MANUAL DE FUNCIONES

The popularity of coffee plantations in the region (not just this village) also creates op- portunities for villagers to engage in short-term waged labour. Villagers usually rely on their own networks (with Kinh households owning big coffee plantations and having in- sufficient labour) to find part-time work. Men often get jobs that requires travel from their houses or villages, while women tend to remain around their villages and work for neigh- bours or people they know. The jobs are also diverse, ranging from trimming tree branches and weeding around coffee holes to harvesting coffee beans (early November to January). They can choose to charge by working days or an assigned workload. Nor- mally, they earn 150,000-200,000 VND ($7-10) per day (around eight hours), but this kind of part-time work is also a one-off opportunity and provide cash to buy food for the household or to buy snacks for their children.

Some of them, especially young female villagers, work in factories in nearby cit- ies during peak production season and return home afterwards. These jobs, however, are dependent on the harvest seasons or the factory. I knew of one young woman who used to work in the tea factory in Bao Loc District. She told me that she only worked for three to four months last year and managed to earn 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 ($150-200) per month. However, she quit the job there after she got pregnant and at the moment, she only works at home (Interview with ID17, 2015). There is no case of young men seeking la- bour in the factories, but one middle-aged man I interviewed used to work as a freelance construction worker and most of the time he was hired by his neighbours to build houses in his own village. However, he stopped doing this two years ago to focus on his coffee plantation (Interview with ID22, 2015).

As my respondents commented, there are not many people relying on waged la- bour for their livelihood, because they are mostly busy with their own plantations/farming work. During my group interview with a group of women, I learnt that the people prefer working on their own land to working as employees/workers in the factories. My land- lady’s daughter also told me that in the long run, people will not be able to work for others

when they grow old, so they prefer to keep their land and work on their land (Interview with ID23, 2015).

5.3.4. Logging

If wet rice, coffee plantation and waged labour are performed by both men and women, then logging as a livelihood strategy is more of a ‘male business’, particularly for young men, mostly because they are more willing to take risks. In the past, men in the village used to travel to nearby old forests to seek valuable types of timber. Logging, for some, provided quick cash for households. While aware that they might have indeed contributed to deforestation or destroying the forest (phá rừng), villagers also noted that they were not the major drivers of deforestation because the state (through the state Forest Com- pany) also conducted large-scale logging. One male respondent explained to me:

We villagers actually did not destroy the forest that much; we only cut down some trees to plant hill rice and coffee. The Forest Company was the one who destroyed the forest. They were the first one to pave the way to deforestation, otherwise how could we dare to go into the forest to cut down the trees? (Interview with PV1, 2016).

The inter-ethnic relations between local loggers and Kinh merchants were also crucial in securing a market for the timber. In fact, most of the local loggers did not start their trip until they received orders from their customers (Kinh merchants). Quite frequently I came across stories of male loggers about their encounters and negotiations with state forest officers. A young man told me that in the first few years after getting married he went for logging trips with his friends. One time he was arrested by the forest officers with several pieces of precious timber and his saw machine. The forest officers finally let him go as he talked politely with them and asked to keep some pieces of timber to cover the ex- penses of this trip as a favour, which he considered his coping strategy when arrested. Another strategy he used was to buy a cheap motorbike to transfer the timber and when they got arrested, they left their motorbikes, ran through the dense forest and escaped. That time they lost their motorbikes, but they were not arrested and did not have to pay bail to get out of prison (Interview with ID6, 2015).

At present, logging does not seem to be as prevalent as in the past. One reason cited by many respondents is that they cannot find much valuable timber in the nearby forests. Coupled with the implementation and enforcement of forest laws and stricter pun- ishment, logging has become more dangerous for male villagers due to its illegal nature. Also, people with relatively big coffee plantations prioritise their own farming work (a

slow but sustainable source of income) over logging (quick cash but is risky and unsus- tainable). Lastly, some people refer to their commitment to participate in forest protection schemes as their motivation to give up logging (for men) or to persuade their hus- bands/family members (for women) to stop ‘destroying the forest’. These claims, how- ever, might be questionable. They normally come from respondents whose household are involved in multiple forest protection schemes and managed to access to both state and non-state credit schemes (UN-REDD Program Village Production Fund). Therefore, these respondents are aware that disclosing their illegal activities might affect the perfor- mance assessment and the chance of being selected for the next round.