Sales of organic produce filling pockets of Xaythany residents

Thongmang village has set up a group to farm vegetables organically. Deputy Head of the Thongmang organic vegetable group, Ms Lavone Philaxayphitack, said everyone in the group wanted to enjoy good health so they made organic fertiliser to use on their vegetables. Initially, villagers grew the vegetables purely for their own consumption but more and more people wanted to eat them as they became more health conscious. So in 2015, they set up the Thongmang organic vegetable group on the advice of the Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department. 

Ms Lavone said that to begin with the group consisted of 12 families who grew vegetables organically on two hectares of land, but they could not produce enough to meet demand. In 2016, 54 families joined the group and grew crops on 31.5 hectares. The harvested produce is sold at the Vientiane Center on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays each week. Some buyers purchase vegetables from the group directly. On average, each family in the group earns not less than 6 million kip a month from the sale of vegetables, Ms Lavone said.

But the group’s output is still not enough to meet demand and she is calling on the government to help the group members to obtain a low- interest loan so they can expand their crop-growing area. This would enable them to supply enough organic vegetables to meet the needs of markets in Vientiane.

Information source: Vientiane Times.