Lao PDR

Distinguishing features of this landlocked country are low population density, high ethnic diversity, poor infrastructure and geographical dispersion of the people. Agriculture employs over 80% of the population and forms 53% of GDP, but at least one-third of the population remain below the poverty line. Over the past decade exports of garments, timber and wood products, gold, hydroelectric power and coffee have become important. Foreign investment through land concession offers opportunities for employment, but it comes with potential challenges related to equity, distribution of benefits and pressure on natural resources. Road transport links to China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are improving rapidly, presenting new opportunities for trade and new challenges for the control of livestock and plant diseases.

Food security is still central to agricultural development in Laos, which will be one of four countries involved in a new initiative on safeguarding food security in rice-based farming systems. Research will aim to increase the productivity of rice-based farming 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 underpinned by capacity building and training.

Rainfed rice farming in Laos is impacted by the effects of seasonal climate variability and, in the long term, of climate change. Flows along the Mekong River and its tributaries will also be affected by climate change and impacts of planned dam construction. The impacts of climate change may amplify the current food security crisis. ACIAR’s focus is on adaptation to climate change at the farm scale, with a drive for more-efficient use of soil and water resources, particularly in the lower Mekong Basin.

The Lao PDR Government is expanding irrigation in lowland areas and working to find alternatives to shifting cultivation in the uplands. With increasing population pressures in the uplands, fallow periods have become unsustainably short. In both upland and lowland areas, diversification of production and greater integration of both agricultural systems with markets remain priorities. However, in the areas of comparative advantage, market opportunities and research needs, the two economies generally differ.

Lowland agriculture is rice-centric—nationally, about 2.3 million tonnes (t) are produced annually, compared with 120,000 t of maize, 150,000 t of sweetpotato and much smaller amounts of legume crops. Upland systems are often more diverse than lowland ones but are poorly connected to markets, with rice being produced mainly for household consumption. Some simple approaches can reduce dependence on shifting agriculture in these regions. Examples include the introduction of better cut-and-carry forage production systems and the use of income-generating livestock, forestry and agroforestry.

Fisheries are important for the nutrition, income and food security of Lao people. Freshwater fish account for 48% of dietary animal protein intake—per capita consumption of inland fisheries products is 29 kg/year (compared with 4, 5 and 5 kg/year for beef, pork and chicken respectively). It is estimated that 80–90% of the yield is derived from river and flood-plain (including rice field) fisheries, with the remainder coming from aquaculture. ACIAR work focuses on management and improvement of the capture fisheries and community-based aquaculture, including better valuing the socioeconomic importance of fisheries within an environment of rapidly evolving rural and aquatic resource development.

Forestry provided up to one-third of export revenue in the 1990s, but the government has since moved to limit harvesting of natural forests, leading to falls in income from log extraction. Laos remains a heavily forested country by Asian standards and long-term conservation of this natural resource is critical. More so than other Asian countries, the harvesting of non-timber forest products for food, fibre and medicine forms an important income and livelihood source for many rural households in Laos.

Livestock are important in the Lao economy, providing a substantial proportion of the annual household income of smallholder farmers. ACIAR research will assist in the control of infectious diseases across and within countries (trans-boundary diseases) in partnership with regional disease control initiatives such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) South-East Asian Foot-and-Mouth Disease Control Program. Important priorities will be improvement to risk assessment of disease transmission that occurs with trading and movement of livestock, improvement to disease surveillance systems and application of any advances to disease-control programs. There are opportunities to improve village-based and small-scale commercial enterprises by limiting important constraints, one of which is disease. In 2006, in collaboration with the National Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute, ACIAR commenced a small grants scheme to enable Lao researchers to develop skills in the design and management of agricultural research projects. This scheme is continuing.