Floods pose obstacle to crop yield targets

So far, about 150 hectares of rice fields and about 29.44 hectares of other crops have been affected by the heavy rain this year in the provinces of Huaphan and Luang Prabang. This does not only affect the farmers, it also has an influence on the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to boost crop cultivation, to increase commercial production and to improve food security. The Ministry aims to produce 2.5 million tonnes of paddy rice through government-introduced food security projects and save between 200,000 and 400,000 tonnes as national reserve. However, only 31% of the production target has been realised by now and more tonnes of rice will be stockpiled due to the storms. 

Economists are requesting the government to implement policies to help taking care of the consequences of the floods for the rice production, as this influences both the improvement of livelihoods and the reduction of poverty. Last year, more than 1 million hectares of crops and fish farms were damaged due to floods. Now, additional flooding is still occurring.

Information source: Vientiane Times.