Laos’ Champasak to place greater focus on agricultural production
Laos’ Champasak to place greater focus on agricultural production
Champasak provincial authorities have pledged to promote and strengthen agricultural production to take advantage of growing domestic demand in Laos as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Provincial deputy governor Malaithong Kommasith told local media recently that Covid-19 has had a major negative impact on the local economy.
However, the tightened measures on cross-border travels have indirectly helped increase the demand for agricultural products in Champasak (which borders Cambodia), he said.
“Champasak has a huge potential to produce many agricultural products and farmers have a long tradition of producing rice, coffee, tea, fruit, vegetables and many other crops,” Malaithong said.
He said the marketing challenge forced local producers to sometimes sell their crops at lower and loss-making prices, which in turn discouraged them from further expanding their commercial productivity.
It is understandable that when farmers produce a particular crop but fail to sell it they shift to growing other kinds of crops, he said.
Some coffee farmers are now chopping down their coffee plantations and making way for cassava – as the latter is a more lucrative business, he added.
Malaithong said Champasak authorities will continue to promote agricultural production along with the processing industry to add value to agricultural products, expand agriculture markets and increase the incomes of farmers.
He said: “Agricultural production in Champasak still faces many challenges such as a small market size, small scale production, limited quantity and quality, competition from imported products and so on.
“It is hard for Laos to compete when it comes to volume, we still find it difficult to take advantage of the economy of scale.
“To overcome these challenges, Champasak will step up efforts to modernise its agricultural production, to heighten the effectiveness and efficiency of its yield and to enhance the competitiveness of its products.
“We will focus on the processing industry to process agriculture products grown by local farmers as a way to help generate more income for them.
“We will promote the tourism industry, too, to expand the size of the local market and we will build an agriculture market in Champasak to promote agriculture trade,” Malaithong said.
He described how the processing industry can help the province tap its huge potential by processing raw materials locally for domestic consumption and exports.
He encouraged entrepreneurs to set up factories to buy crops from farmers, instead of exporting raw materials. Champasak has a considerable potential for the production of rice, fruit, coffee and vegetables that can be sold in other provinces and exported to neighbouring countries too.
Malaithong is optimistic that in a post-Covid-19 world and when the Laos-China railway link is complete, the province will have more opportunities to explore markets in neighbouring countries and overseas, and agricultural production and processing will significantly contribute to poverty reduction, socio-economic development and make Champasak even more known.
Champasak – the former capital of the Kingdom of Champasak – covers an area of 15,415sq km and borders Cambodia along Choam Ksan and Chheb districts in Preah Vihear province, as well as Thala Barivat and Siem Pang districts and Stung Treng town in Stung Treng province.
