Handicraft making a money spinner for Xayaboury villagers

Viengkham is rich in natural resources and the villagers grow rice, rear animals, knit, weave items of clothing and make handicrafts as their main source of income. The Head of Viengkham village, Mr Sanjoy Xaetern, said that before the villagers set up a special handicraft group they made items individually and transported them to points of sale by themselves but had trouble selling them. District officials helped to set up the handicraft production group in Viengkham village and built a market where their products could be sold.

To start with there were just five families in the group and Mr Sanjoy was the head. Now Viengkham village has become a model of handicraft production in Phieng district and people make a variety of household items including bamboo chicken coops, baskets in which to steam and carry rice, brooms, and bamboo fish traps. The group now has 30 families as its members and has 11 shops where their products are sold. The handicrafts are something of a visitor attraction and each group member can earn 80,000 to 100,000 kip a day from sales. On average the group earns 800 million kip a year which helps boost members’ incomes and enables them to have a better quality of life.

Information source: Vientiane Times.