Rice production in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

is important to the national economy and food supply.

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

is a key staple for Laos, and over 60% of

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

is used for its cultivation. Only around 4% of Laos’ total area is arable, which is the smallest amount of arable land of any country in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, due its mountainous terrain (see Geography of Laos). Rice is primarily produced in the country’s lowland areas, with only approximately 11% of production taking place in highland areas. Many of the leading rice-producing provinces are located along the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

(e.g.,

Vientiane Vientiane (, ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Laos. Situated on the banks of the Mekong, Mekong River at the Thailand, Thai border, it comprises the five urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture and had a population of 840,000 ...

, Khammouan, Bolikhamxai, Savannakhet, Salavan, and Champasak). Average rice farms are small, averaging only around . As of 2019, approximately 1.5 million metric tons of rice were produced in Laos. Production can vary significantly between years but has been improving due to the adaption of higher-yield varieties and increased irrigated acreage. However, almost 90% of rice production occurs during the wet season, as only about 12% of the cultivated rice area is irrigated. There is no irrigated acreage in the highland area, limiting highland rice farmers’ growing season to one crop per year (April–November), while some lowland rice farmers have been able to cultivate rice twice a year with irrigated farms near the Mekong River. The lowland main rice crop is usually planted in June and July and harvested from October to December. The lowland off-season crop is usually planted in December and January and harvested in April and May.

Glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

production makes up around 80% of all Lao rice production, with most of the remaining production consisting of white and fragrant rice.

Mechanization Mechanization (or mechanisation) is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text, a machine is defined as follows: In every fields, mechan ...

remains quite limited but is becoming more common in major rice-producing provinces. As rice is critical to rural income and

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

, the government regulates the

value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a business or firm performs in order to deliver goods and services of Value (economics), value to an end customer. The concept comes from the field of business management and was first described ...

for rice quite closely (e.g., setting price floors for farm gate paddy rice purchases). Similarly, traders seeking to export rice must register with both the national government and the provincial government. As of 2020, the Lao government was drafting its Agricultural Development Strategy taking into account the new atmosphere presented by the outbreak of COVID-19. COVID-19 came after two years of troubled agricultural production in Laos due to adverse weather conditions and pest infestations, which made the Lao government rethink its current agricultural policies. The Lao government was looking to focus more on small farmers and invest in more research and extension. The Lao government was also placing an emphasis on green and sustainable growing techniques. The government has prioritized increasing rice production and exports with the objective of increasing total paddy rice production to with of exports by 2025. The Lao government was focusing on increasing irrigated acreage and improving seed varieties to meet its goal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice Production In Laos Agriculture in Laos