Agricultural producer hopes AEC will resurrect exports
Agricultural producer hopes AEC will resurrect exports
Major local organic vegetable producer Pakxong Organic Farm, which has stopped exporting its produce to the Middle East, is hoping the start of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will help to lower transportation costs in Laos.
“I had to stop my exports because of the high transportation charges which made my produce too expensive when it arrived at its destination,” farm owner Ms Inpeng Samuntee said yesterday.
“That is why I am waiting for the start of the AEC at the end of this year to see if the governments in Asean countries have any transport promotion policy for agricultural producers,” Ms Inpeng said.
“Cheaper transportation fees will help to promote the local production for export in each Asean country.”
She said that her exports of organic vegetables to the Middle East stopped because the transportation fee alone reached almost US$7 per kilo.
Freight cost from Laos to Thailand is almost US$2 per kilo and from Thailand to the Middle East is about US$4 per kilo.
“This makes it impossible for us to meet market buying prices of US$8 to US$10 per kilo,” she said.
“That is why our business partners and buyers have also advised us to wait for AEC.”
The farm only exported three times before stopping, with each shipment being for about 150kg of vegetables.
The farm was able export in the past because “the buyers paid the transportation costs for us but now they cannot do that,” she said.
Halal Food Group wants to buy at least 370 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from the farm annually.
The buyers really want to have Lao organic products because “they often cooperate with us on the planting system and even worked on issuing the organic certificate by the Middle East's Halal Food Group to guarantee our product's quality,” she said.
Group representatives often visited the farm in the past to monitor crop development and returned at intervals to make further checks until the crops were ready to be shipped.
Ms Inpeng is sure they can meet the Group's requirements because she has a lot of experience working with them and has received organic certification from them previously.
However, currently she produces vegetables for supply only to local markets, including Vientiane and some provinces.
The 500 hectare organic farm in Pakxong district, Champas sak province, grows bananas, pineapples, cabbage, asparagus, peppers, lettuce, onions, carrots, radishes, zucchini, potatoes, ginger, chayote, tamarind, coffee and tea. The farm has grassland where cattle graze. The animals are reared for their meat and also for the manure they produce, which is used for vegetable cultivation.
The farm uses fertilizer made from animal dung, rice straw, waste vegetables and rice husks.
