The 34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF)
and the 12th AMAF+3 to be hosted by Laos from September 24-29 will serve to
increase food security and agricultural production in Laos.
This meeting will be helpful to
agriculture and forestry sector development through cooperation and assistance
from ASEAN member countries and development partners China, Republic of Korea
and Japan.
The meeting is also a good opportunity
for Laos to reveal the government’s policies with regard to encouraging funding
and assistance from international organisations and the region.
The discussions and sharing of
experiences will increase cooperation between Laos and the region, in
particular the ASEAN member countries and their development partners.
The cooperation and assistance
will help Laos to be part of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community
in 2015 and the ASEAN Free Trade Area.
The cooperation will also co
ntribute to the creation and transfer of technology, increase productivity and
develop agribusiness, further the management and conservation of natural
resources for sustainable development, and build on traditional a nd cultural
exchanges.
The annual growth of the
agriculture and forestry sector is an average of 4.1 percent with rice
production having achieved national sufficiency.
During the fiscal year 2010-2011
the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry encouraged farmers around the country
to produce 3.07 million tonnes of rice and now plans to harvest 3.6 million
tonnes for 2012-2013.
The ministry is expected to
encourage farmers to produce 4.2 tonnes by 2015, providing Laos is not affected
by weather extremes.
According to a World Bank report,
each year about 100,000 tonnes of rice worth some US$30,000 is unofficially
sold across the border while Laos has no official exports of the commodity
recorded.
Many upland communities cannot
produce sufficient rice for their families because of limited land cultivation,
lack of credit, and limited access to new techniques or equipment such as
fertiliser and pesticides.
Coffee leads the way as Laos’ top
commercial crop for international export income, followed by the increasingly
popular sweet corn.
Last year, Laos received US$150
million from coffee exports, US$33 million from sweetcorn, US$11 million from
Job’s tear, US$14 million from rice and cassava, and US$6 million from the
export of sugarcane, according to the Agriculture Department.
Forest loss and degradation have
in recent decades led to a dramatic decline of natural forests from 70 percent
of the nation’s land in the 1940s to 40 percent in 2010, and to higher levels
of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the government plans to
increase the area of forest cover to about 65 percent of the total land area by
2015 and 70 percent by 2020.
Laos was selected to be the host
of this meeting for the first time in 2002, for the 24th AMAF and the second
AMAF+3, after the country became a member of ASEAN in 1997.
Khamphone Syvongxay
Source: Vientiane Times
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment