The village Sin-oudom, located in the Luang Namtha district in the Luang Namtha province, accommodates 69 families. The 315 residents are mostly engaged in upland crop cultivation, vegetable growing and weaving, of which weaving has recently become the main income for many families. As resident Ms. Yaeng Kordakham explains, women in the village have been weaving for many years already. However, it is only since 2017 that they made woven products not just for their families but for sale as well. This is due to the district officials, as they encouraged the women to weave garments on a commercial basis. The officials also brought traders to the village to buy the things they made.
The women weave different items, like tablecloths, sashes and specific costumers’ orders. In order to fulfil the demands, the women are weaving on 69 looms now instead of 10. Because of this, every woman is for example able to produce 50 traditional skirts a year which can be sold for 250,000 to one million kip. As a result, the villagers now earn more than 1 billion kip a year by selling the woven products. This means that every household can earn at least 15 million kip a year, what significantly boosts their household income and improves their living standards.
Information source: Vientiane Times.
