Farming helps to boost revenue growth in Saravan
Farming helps to boost revenue growth in Saravan
Saravan province expects last year's income to grow by about 30 percent tha nks to increased farming output when final figures are calculated next month.
Province Party Committee Representative, Ms Manisong Leusisamoud, explained yesterday while attending the 10th Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party that the province's income was likely to grow at 30 percent compared to 2014.
Ms Manisong said this year's economic growth should reach 8 percent, with revenue also up on last year, which would help in achieving the local income target of US$1,700 per capita by 2020.
“This growth is thanks to rice production and exports with more than 300,000 tonnes of rice harvested last year and about 78,600 hectares under cultivation. This means there is enough for people in Sar avan to consume and a surplus of more than 600 tonnes a year available to sell,” the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department reported last month.
Ms Manisong said that besides this, farmers in the province are growing coffee, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, fruit and beans for sale to earn more income, thereby fuelling the province's economic growth.
She said Laos still had much unused land suitable for growing a variety of crops, so there was a great deal of potential for farming opportunities, which the province was working with concerned authorities to develop to potentially increase future exports.
For example, the province is encouraging rural families to grow a variety of crops commercially and improve their circumstances. Young people are being urged to develop more interest in farming or learn vocational skills to prevent them from travelling overseas and to address the labour shortage in the province.
Ms Manisong believed these were positive steps in reducing poverty as well as increasing the province's income in the years ahead.
