Archive for the ‘Rubber, bio-fuel and other commodities’ Category
February 17th, 2012
Vientiane Time, February 17, 2012
The capacity for commercial agriculture plantations to alleviate poverty in rural areas of Laos must increasingly be weighed against the potential impacts on ecosystem services, sustainability of land resources and traditional livelihoods.
The National Economic Research Institute (NERI) yesterday presented the results from a study on the economic valuation of ecosystem services for sustainable land use at a national policy workshop in Vientiane. The case study compared both the financial returns and the environmental costs of different land uses such as non-timber forest products collection, upland rice farming and maize and rubber plantations in Oudomxay province.
Posted in Agriculture and agribusiness, Land use planning and tenure, Rubber, bio-fuel and other commodities 
Tags: maize, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Planning and Investment, MoNRE, National Assembly, NERI, Oudomxay, rubber 
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February 13th, 2012
Vientiane Times, February 13, 2012
The Lao Indochina Group Public Company Tapioca Factory expects cassava plantations and the number of its member farmers to increase by up to three times its initial target for this year. “I’ve talked to farmers and each seems to have expanded their fields by about one or two times,” company Chairman Mr Sengmaly Sengvatthana said at a press conference in Vientiane on Friday.
February 8th, 2012
Vientiane Times, February 8, 2012
Farmers in Xayaboury province may reduce the amount of sweetcorn they grow for export this year and grow cassava instead to supply a nearby processing plant. Provincial authorities expect that sweetcorn growers will make the switch to cassava in the upcoming wet season, saying that cassava is likely to prove more profitable.
February 2nd, 2012
Vientiane Times, February 2, 2012
The Land Natural Resources Information Research Centre is reviewing the effectiveness of land use policies, to ensure that both project investors and local communities benefit from industrial plantations and other concessions. The land policies to be reviewed include the ‘2+3′ system in which an investor provides the funding, materials and technical and marketing support required to grow a specific crop, while farmers provide the necessary land and labour. In such a system, the project investor buys the crop from the farmers who grow and harvest it.
January 30th, 2012
Vientiane Times, January 30, 2012
A Japanese investor, Oji Lao Plantation Forest Company, signed an agreement in Vientiane on Friday to expand its concession of state-owned land on which to plant industrial trees in Borikhamxay and Khammuan provinces. The agreement, signed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, extends the land concession from 22,434 to 50,000 hectares.
January 9th, 2012
Vientiane Times, January 9, 2012
Saravan province has agreed to allow domestic and foreign investors to set up projects under the ‘two plus three’ system, which does not involve land concessions and is of direct benefit to farmers. Under this system, the investor provides funding, materials and technical support to farmers, who provide the land and labour required, provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department Deputy Director Mr Thongdy Chanthavong explained recently.
Posted in Agriculture and agribusiness, Investment and concessions, Rubber, bio-fuel and other commodities
Tags: 2+3 system, cassava, China, corn, farmers, NAFRI, plantation, rubber, Saravan, sugarcane, Vietnam
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January 3rd, 2012
Vientiane Times, January 3, 2011
Luang Namtha province needs to train or recruit a large number of workers with the necessary skills to tap rubber trees, with more than 29,000 hectares of rubber now under cultivation in the province. About 10,000 hectares are fully grown and now ready to harvest, while the rest of the trees will mature between 2015 and 2020, according to the provincial Labour and Social Welfare Department. To work the entire 29,000 hectares they will require about 50,000 workers to tap the rubber and carry out other associated tasks, but currently there is a shortage of people with the necessary skills, department official Ms Lathana Phommachan told Vientiane Times on Thursday.
January 3rd, 2012
 Another rubber concession has been approved despite concerns over the environmental impacts caused by industrial tree plantations. Photo from Sekong province; clearing land for a rubber concession. Vientiane Times, January 3, 2012
The government has allocated another sizeable area of land for a Vietnamese firm to grow rubber trees despite concerns over the environmental impacts caused by industrial tree plantations. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dr Akhom Tounalom on Friday signed a 40-year land concession for the Lao-Viet joint venture to grow rubber trees on 131 plots of land totaling 4,739 hectares. Senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment were present at the agreement signing in Vientiane.
Posted in Investment and concessions, Rubber, bio-fuel and other commodities
Tags: Champasak, corn, eucalyptus, Ministry of Finance, MoNRE, Oudomxay, rubber, Saravan, Vietnam, Xieng Khuang
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December 21st, 2011
Vientiane Times, December 23, 2011
Chinese investors will plant 1,000 hectares of rubber trees in Xepon district, Savannakhet province, after signing an agreement with the Lao government on Thursday. The company is contracted to plant the trees and will invest more than US$7 million in the province, as well as tap rubber for the next 45 years, General Manager of Guangda-Lao Company Mr Zhong Wen Zhuo said. “We will grow trees in this district of Savannakhet because the provincial governor wants us to develop that area and help reduce poverty,” he said.
December 21st, 2011
Vientiane Times, December 21, 2011
The government has given the green light for a Vietnamese company to study the viability of establishing a rubber plantation and processing factory in Samuoy district, Saravan province. A Memorandum of Understanding on the feasibility study was signed yesterday in Vientiane between Cao Su Quang Tri Company Managing Director, Mr Van Luu, and Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, Mr Bounthavy Sisouphanthong. The signing was witnessed by the company’s Deputy Director, Mr Nguyen Huu Manh, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Office Deputy Head, Mr Khamphan Meunasithida, and Saravan provincial Planning and Investment Department Director, Mr Sayadeth Vongsaravan. Other officials from both Laos and Vietnam were also present.
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