Agriculture ministry mulls solutions to issues faced by cooperatives

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry plans to work more closely with rural communities to improve the working methods of cooperatives and forge stronger links with farmers.

The subject was the focus of a meeting held at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) in Vientiane on Thursday, to seek input concerning the ministry’s policy to boost cooperation and achieve stronger economic growth. The ministry convened the meeting for officials, teachers and researchers, to hear their comments on this progressive policy.

Officials sought opinions on how the government and people could work more effectively together to improve and expand agriculture and associated cooperatives. The ministry believe that the work of cooperatives is a strong contribution to overall socio-economic development.

However, many people are experiencing difficulties in effectively managing cooperatives and improving agricultural output. There are problems in establishing plantations and cultivating and harvesting crops, as well as raising live-stock and in other areas of agriculture.

The meeting was led by Acting Director General of the ministry’s Rural Development and Cooperatives Department, Mr Khamouane Khamphoukeo, and attended by senior officials from ministries, provinces and districts, as well as lecturers from the National University of Laos. Mr Khamouane said “We will hear comments from university lecturers, officials and researchers and will submit these to the government so that higher authorities are better informed about ways to help address and resolve the issues faced by cooperatives.”

“We are having difficulty in identifying ways to strengthen the operations of cooperatives and the government has drawn up new rules in this regard, but we will work together to try to resolve these issues.”

The Rural Development and Cooperatives Department will partner with experts from China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and hold a meeting in early 2021 to share experiences in the work of cooperatives.

In 2019 and 2020 the department received funding from the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation for a project to study the working methods of cooperatives in remote areas of Laos and devise new policies. Source