Clean Agriculture Development in Lao PDR: Opportunities and Challenges for Food Safety and Market Access
Keywords:
Lao PDR, Agriculture, Sustainable, Clean AgricultureAbstract
This paper aims to analyze the situation of clean agriculture in Lao PDR, to identify the problem, potential, and opportunities for its development. Key informant interviews of 15 experts and 35 farmers are conducted together with field observations in 4 villages of 3 districts in Xiengkhuang province, to gather production information and opinions on clean agriculture. Government plan of action for clean agriculture development, production, and distribution channel of Organic Agriculture (OA) are reviewed. It is concluded that the crop production in Laos is clean agriculture by default, with the advantages of clean water, less and non-chemical farming in practice. In order to expand the domestic and international market of clean agriculture, especially the OA products in Lao PDR, standards of OA, GAP, SNA, and PEP should be promoted
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