Rice production in

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

is important to the national economy and food supply.

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

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

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "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 ...

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, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, due its mountainous terrain (see

Geography of Laos Laos is an independent republic, and the only landlocked nation in Southeast Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam. It covers 236,800 square kilometers in the center of the Southeast Asian peninsula and it is surrounded by Myanmar (Burma) ...

). 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 trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...

(e.g.,

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

, Khammouan, Bolikhamxai,

Savannakhet Savannakhet (ສະຫວັນນະເຂດ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane ( lo, ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ; th, ไกสอน พมวิหาน) since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (ຄັນທະ ...

, 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 Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

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 Glutinous rice (''Oryza sativa var. glutinosa''; also called sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice) is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose ...

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

Mechanization Mechanization 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 some fields, mechanization includes the ...

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 speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...

, the government regulates the

value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was firs ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. 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 Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

. 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