Title of document: The Law on Agriculture Year of publication: 1998 Geographic focus: Laos DECREE of the PRESIDENT of the LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC on the promulgation of the Law on Agriculture   Read More

Title of document: Agriculture and forestry sector contribution to the 8thNational Socio Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) Author: Mr. XaypladethChoulamany Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Departmentof Planning and Cooperation(DoPC), Lao PDR Year of publication: 2015 Geographic focus: Laos   Read More

Title of document: 7th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2011-2015) Author: H.E. Dr. Bounthavy SISOUPHANTHONG Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republlic Year of publication: 2015 Geographic focus: Laos   Read More

Title of document: Field Exercise Guide on Fruit Flies Integrated Pest Management Authors: Prabhat Kumar, Abubakar, AlmaLinda, Jan Willem Ketelaar, Vijaysegaran Shanmugam Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand; FAO Asia IPM Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAORAP,Bangkok, Thailand; FAO Consultant, Fruit Fly IPM Expert (formally with University of Griffith, Australia) Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: South and South East Asia School of agroecology: Integrated Pest Management A range of technical sessions are carried out in a Farmer‘s Field School /Training of Trainers courses to facilitate enjoyable learning experiences for IPM farmers and trainers. These exercises follow non-formal education methodologies based on adult learning principles as the core of its design and allow a participatory learning process on selected topics. A range of exercise guides have been developed on many pests an, crops and have been very successfully used in implementing FFS and/or TOT in many geographical areas of the world. This is the first such attempt to develop a range of exercises on key technical aspects on fruit flies. It has been developed through a participatory and collaborative effort during the FAO/AIT Regional Training on IPM for Fruit Flies, held at the Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), Tien Giang, Vietnam from 07-14TH December 2010. This regional training was held under the auspices of the Asian Fruit Fly IPM Project, involving a group of selected IPM trainers from the Asian region and resource persons.   Read More

Title of document: Regional Training on IPM for Fruit Flies / Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management of Fruit Flies in South and Southeast Asia Author: Prabhat Kumar, Alma Linda Abubakar, Jan Willem Ketelaar and Vijaysegaran Shanmugam Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand; FAO Asia IPM Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO-RAP, Bangkok, Thailand; FAO Consultant, Fruit Fly IPM Expert (formally with University of Griffith, Australia) Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: South and South East Asia School of agroecology: Integrated Pest Management A Regional Training on IPM for Fruit Flies under the auspices of the project “Area-wide Fruit fly Integrated Pest Management in South and Southeast Asia” was organized at the Southern Horticultural Research Institute, Tien Giang in Vietnam from 07 - 14 December 2010. Attendees (some 35 persons) included resource persons, country representatives from project implementation countries and other countries in South and SE Asia, representatives from partner institutes (FAO, BCRL India) and personnel from the host institute SOFRI and PPD of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam. The overall objective of the training was to provide participants with information, education and hands-on experiences on fruit fly IPM to prepare them to assist farming communities in developing location-specific and effective area-wide strategies for sustainable fruit fly management. The training course sessions were divided into learning blocks on: (1) Fruit Fly Species Diagnosis, Biology and Ecology; (2) Damage Symptoms Recognition and Assessment; (3) Management Options for Fruit Fly; (4) Design of Area-wide Best-bet Management Strategies for Fruit Fly; and (5) Training Curriculum and Materials Development.   Read More

Title of document: The Southeast Asian Network for Agroforestry Education (SEANAFE), Phase II Author: Bo Tengnäs; Awang Noor Abd. Ghani; Hendrayanto Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Department for Natural Resources and the Environment, Sida Evaluations Year of publication: 2007 Geographic focus: South East Asia School of agroecology: Agro-forestry Sida supports the development of education in agroforestry in SEAsia. The main objectives are to solidify an effective regional and national (in fi ve SE Asian countries) networking infrastructure and to enhance university lecturers’ capability to teach certain aspects of agroforestry. The aims of the mid-term review are to fi nd out if SEANAFE is on track, draw lessons for the remaining project period and to recommend new directions, where necessary. The three-person mission visited universities in four countries in SEAsia. The team benefi ted from having two members from the region and the third member with broad experience of the region and of the particular program. The project was relatively well on track in certain respects, less so in others. Four out of the five national networks have performed relatively well, while the fifth was lagging behind in evolution and performance. The sustainability of the regional network in a future without donor support is a concern. Most important, therefore, is to achieve sustainability of results and impact at institutional and national level. The most important recommendation for the remaining period is to revise the budget and streamline planned activities so that a high-quality output of targeted activities can be achieved.   Read More

Title of document: SRI in Laos Author: Kazuyuki SHIMAZAKI (Translation from Japanese book Rice Farming Revolution by SRI published by J-SRI in Sept. 2011) Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: Laos School of agroecology: System of Rice Intensification The first organization to introduce SRI into Laos was Oxfam Australia, a non-governmental organization (NGO), which conducted the first SRI trials during the rainy season of 2001. The Lao National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), however, conducted its own trials during the dry season of 2001/02 and the rainy season 2002 and concluded that “the likelihood of disseminating SRI throughout Laos is extremely slim.” As a result of this verdict, the spread of SRI within Laos was, thereafter, limited to a very small amount of progress attributable to the support of several international NGOs.   Read More

Title of document: SRI in Laos Author: Kazuyuki SHIMAZAKI (Translation from Japanese book Rice Farming Revolution by SRI published by J-SRI in Sept. 2011) Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: Laos School of agroecology: System of Rice Intensification The first organization to introduce SRI into Laos was Oxfam Australia, a non-governmental organization (NGO), which conducted the first SRI trials during the rainy season of 2001. The Lao National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), however, conducted its own trials during the dry season of 2001/02 and the rainy season 2002 and concluded that “the likelihood of disseminating SRI throughout Laos is extremely slim.” As a result of this verdict, the spread of SRI within Laos was, thereafter, limited to a very small amount of progress attributable to the support of several international NGOs.   Read More

Title of document: Guideline on SRI Practice in Irrigated Paddy Fields in Laos Authors: Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. in association with NIACONSULT, Inc. & Lao Consulting Group Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Planning; Northern Rural Infrastructure Development, Sector Project; ADB Year of publication: 2012 Geographic focus: Laos School of agroecology: System of Rice Intensification The System of Rice Intensification, known as SRI, is an innovation in rice production systems by raising productivity of the land, labor, water and capital. SRI is a set of modified practices for managing rice plants and the soil, water and nutrients. SRI can produce more paddy yield with less external inputs. Furthermore, SRI is environment-friendly. SRI method can be adopted to any type of rice variety (local variety, HYV, hybrid variety). SRI is an innovation that is constituted entirely of knowledge, but not depending on external inputs and materials.   Read More

Title of document: Case Studies of Rural Development and Clean Agriculture in Lao PDR Author: Sachika Hirokawa Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development Year of publication: 2013 Geographic focus: Laos School of agroecology: Organic Agriculture The study examines the kind of actors and resources that empower small-scale farmers to promote sustainable agriculture. It also analyzes the reasons given by farmers who changed their farming methods. In 2004, the Department of Agriculture launched a project for the Promoting Organic Farming and Marketing in Lao PDR (PROFIL). PROFIL tried to develop market opportunities for Lao’s organic products and supported the local organic farmers. I conducted field researches at Nonte village in Vientiane Capital twice in 2008. The researches indicated that “Clean Agriculture” is one of the new challenges for farmers. Thus, this research focuses on the observation of how local organic farmers adapt to a new method and cope with problems. Information as knowledge from community groups and external actors such as local institutions and experts might help villagers to have choices in terms of farming methods, which gave them positive choices in terms of health and an agricultural environment. Since the government has the recognition of comparative advantages of clean agriculture, farmers may have the opportunity to gain a large market of organic farm products if they can develop distribution channels. This study encourages the positive contributions of challenges of sustainable agriculture in Lao PDR.   Read More