Lao PDR

The focus of future Australian assistance, as outlined in the Australia–Lao Development Cooperation Strategy 2009–15, is through three pillars: education, inclusive growth through trade and investment, and rural development. ACIAR’s program is directly aligned with the rural development initiative. Approximately 80% of poor people in Laos live in rural areas. Agriculture forms 53% of GDP but at least one-third of the population remain below the poverty line.

Food security is still central to agricultural development in Lao, which is one of four countries involved in a new initiative on safeguarding food security in rice-based farming systems. ACIAR research aims to increase the productivity of these systems, together with fostering cooperation with CGIAR centres to fast-track development of new crop varieties with advanced informatics and biotechnology. Some enabling research on underpinning institutional and policy arrangements affecting rice-based farming systems will also be commissioned. These themes will be complemented by capacity building and training.

ACIAR’s program supports research that underpins the Lao PDR Government’s objectives of:

• identifying and implementing alternatives to shifting cultivation in upland regions, with ACIAR support through fostering of technical interventions to improve the profitability of low-input household farming systems as an alternative to shifting cultivation


• improving the productivity of lowland farming systems, and maintaining and increasing critically important rice yields to improve food security and incomes, with ACIAR support through applied research that aims to improve productivity and diversification of rice-based farming systems, livestock and fisheries


• reducing the vulnerability of rainfed cropping agriculture to climate variability and change, with ACIAR support through research on more-efficient use of soil and water resources at the farm level, complementing basin-wide programs on water and climate change supported by AusAID and other donors.

At the request of the Lao PDR Government, there will be increased emphasis in southern Laos. There is a need for research to improve food security from rice-based and other southern Laos farming systems in both lowland and upland districts, along with technical and agribusiness research collaboration to understand and develop domestic and export market opportunities for rice, cattle and other agricultural products.

Where appropriate, research interventions are tailored to complement larger donor programs. Over the next few years ACIAR will partner with programs of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Asian Development Bank (through the Sustainable Natural Resources Management and Productivity Enhancement Project) and the World Bank to underpin biophysical, socioeconomic and agribusiness development of rice-based and other farming systems in southern Laos. This will enable ACIAR to work with these development partners to use research output to support capacity building at the village level, produce and disseminate extension materials, and develop learning alliances with communities and NGOs. Collaboration with these partners will involve working closely with line ministries and other donors to ensure compatibility with the principles of the Vientiane Declaration.

Priorities for collaborative research on food security from rice-based farming systems in the southern provinces were discussed in August 2009 at a consultation workshop in Vientiane. ACIAR will continue to encourage linkages with other donor-funded programs, and will aim to extend the positive impact of previous ACIAR-funded projects in the region.

Priorities for the medium term are:

Market-driven alternatives to shifting cultivation in upland regions: (focus on northern provinces—Huaphan, Bokeo, Luang Nam Tha, Xieng Khouang, Luang Prabang)

• Enhancement of the impact of earlier ACIAR project investments in livestock production and health at the farmer level


• Establishment of sustainable smallholder teak-based agroforestry systems, including through better silvicultural management of timber and non-timber forest species and value-adding


• Improved food security and profitability of farming systems through diversification: (focus on Savannakhet and Champasack provinces, activities in Attapeu and Vientiane provinces)

• Research to support the spread of intensive rice production practices that require less labour


• Mapping of recommended rice variety domains, combining agroecological suitability analysis and farmer participatory assessment


• Land-use suitability mapping of potential areas for crop and livestock diversification


• Implementation of soil fertility management practices, including better matching of nutrients (and micronutrients) to soil series and use of green manures

• Development and dissemination of crop-specific technology information packages, and research into alternative extension and information delivery models for traders and producers


• Implementation of low-cost vegetable postharvest handling and other logistical and market-oriented technologies


• Plant biosecurity, including biosecurity- and quarantine-related R&D, molecular identification of quarantine pests and technical capacity building

• Assessment of the economic and social acceptability of supplementary irrigation to reduce risk in the production of rainfed rice and other crops


• Optimisation of field water application for irrigated crops


• Use of systems for improving non-rice cropping management (scheduling, crop choice, rotations, soil suitability)


• Assessment of spatial and temporal availability, quality and sustainability of surface water and groundwater resources, and options for multi-use on-farm water storage

• Assessment of options for diversification of incomes and income improvement through livestock production within rice-based farming systems


• Assessment of options for the intensification of cattle production


• Increasing production from smallholder riverine fisheries and pond aquaculture


• Assessment of design of fish-passage structures to enable movement of fish between rivers and flood plains


• Analysis of incentives for vaccine use, and the capacity for delivery of high-quality, available vaccines for CSF and other diseases of cattle, pigs and poultry


• Improvements to the policy and regulatory environment for regional disease control

• Determination of institutional conditions that foster farmer cooperatives and private-sector involvement in the marketing of Lao rice, and integration of improved postharvest technologies along the rice value chain


• Establishment of household typologies to determine sociological factors affecting uptake of new technologies and opportunities for diversification


• Determination of impacts of regional trade environments on household livelihood strategies


• Analysis of value chains for rice, cattle and selected crops to better align technical research with market needs


• Analysis of rice self-sufficiency, internal seasonal self-sufficiency policies, price stabilisation, and domestic and export trading policies—at national and provincial levels

• Location-specific recommendations for development of more-resilient cropping systems, including assessment of new (e.g. early maturing or drought tolerant) crops


• Utilisation of farming systems analysis and farm financial modelling to develop options for adaptation relevant to farmer decision-making


• Better use of residual moisture, late-season rainfall or limited supplementary irrigation to produce an additional crop.