Survey on Agriculture Sector Development in Laos

JICA’s support for the agricultural sector in Laos has traditionally centered on ensuring food security and improving people’s livelihoods. To sustain economic growth and alleviate disparities between urban and rural areas, it is deemed critical to boost people’s income in agricultural regions through improved productivity, and facilitate phased transformation from subsistence to market-oriented agriculture. The IC Net team gathered information about the current situations by implementing a number of surveys on key topics such as rice production, organic agriculture, farmers’ organizations, rural finance, and suburban agriculture, analyzed development challenges toward food security and market-oriented agriculture, and proposed assistance approaches for agriculture sector development from medium- to long-term perspectives. The team’s proposal of assistance approaches provided critical inputs for the formulation of JICA programs for agricultural sector development in Laos.