Organic agriculture development boost trading
Organic agriculture development boost trading
The government is formulating principles and measures in quality management to develop and promote organic agriculture, aiming to supply domestic demand as well as export markets.
Lao farmers began to embrace organic agriculture for commerce many years ago but most of them still lack basic materials and the technical skills to ensure their organic crops are commercially marketable.
Agricultural promotion entrepreneurs and agricultural officials from the public and private sectors gathered for a two day meeting from July 14-15 in Vientiane to discuss organic agriculture development in Laos.
This third Lao organic agriculture forum is being held to facilitate information and experience sharing among stakeholders interested in organic agriculture development in Laos.
The forum aims to encourage dialogue between public and private partnerships and is open to all stakeholders including producer organisations, traders' associations, environmental groups, research institutions, and consumer associations.
Laos has a good potential environment to produce organic crops for sale and export but currently most farmers are producing crops only for family consumption and some surplus sales to local markets.
Laos is still struggling to compete with other Asean countries in agricultural development because of a lack of standards and quality management, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Vilayvanh Phomkhe said at the opening of the meeting.
To solve the issue, the country should focus on basic infrastructure and rules and regulations to govern the sector, in particular the standard of products and human capacity building, he said.
Despite the fact the government has been working to promote clean products by creating regulations and providing technique assistance, actual implementation on the ground is still limited, Mr Vilayvanh explained.
He said he believed that the discussions would help increase coordination and cooperation between the government and private sectors to seek better ways of producing and developing organic crops in Laos.
So far, the Agriculture Department has issued organic agriculture certificates to 26 producers' groups, which have a total of 1,467 member families and some 2,566 hectares of fields, the department's Director General, Dr Monthathip Chanphengxay reported.
After the government moved to promote clean agriculture, the department initially developed two systems, Organic Agriculture and Good Agriculture Practices to offer suitable choices for Lao farmers, she said.
Agricultural lands in different areas of Laos have never been used for commercial crops which are sprayed with chemicals and pesticides, Dr Monthathip said.
The organic forum is a dialogue meeting open for policy makers, producers and the business sector, who will have the chance to share their experience and discuss the way forward in organic agriculture development in Laos.
vientiane times
