Govt aims to boost revenues through commercial crops
Govt aims to boost revenues through commercial crops
The government plans to encourage Lao farmers to produce and expand commercial crops for supply to the domestic market and also for export.
The growth of commercial crops will boost local family incomes as well as nationwide revenue and socio-economic growth, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Next year, Laos plans to encourage farmers and business units to plant about 83,500 hectares of coffee yielding some 92,500 tonnes; 213,300 hectares of sweetcorn yielding some 1.07 million tonnes, 46,000 hectares of cassava yielding some 1.518 million tonnes and 40,000 hectares of sugar yielding some 1.720 million tonnes.
This fiscal year (2013-2014), the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has supported farmers around the country to produce coffee totalling 89,000 tonnes, one million tonnes of sweet corn, 1.5 million tonnes of cassava, 1.6 million tonnes of sugar and 175,600 tonnes of jobs tear.
The ministry also plans to promote other crops such as beans, banana, watermelon, pineapple and papaya for export, especially to China.
Production helped to improve the living conditions of local farming families and boost agricultural revenue.
This year, the county received almost US$16 million from coffee exports, US$35.5 million from sweet corn and about US$12 million from dried cassava and tapioca, according to the Agriculture Department.
Laos also earned income from other export crops such as beans, banana, watermelon and sesame.
All together, it is estimated the country received some US$134.5 million from about 400,000 tonnes of commercial crops and plants for export this year.
There are still thousands of tonnes of commercial crops and plants being exported unofficially through local border checkpoints, of which the department has little information.
This year, Laos received about US$8.5 million from rice exports, including varieties such as sticky rice, white rice, black rice and paddy rice, which were shipped to markets in Vietnam, China, Thailand and France.
The department expects that next year the country will see a further boost to revenues from the export of commercial crops and plants as plantations expand and investment by the private sector is promoted.
On average, the agriculture and forestry sector has expanded by 3.3 percent per annum and represents 24.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the ministry.
This year, the sector expanded by 2.9 percent and represented 24.4 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product.
vientiane times
