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8,000 hectares of rice lost to drought, mice
More than 8,000 hectares of slash-and-burn-cultivated rice in Luang Prabang province has been destroyed by drought and mice, sparking fears of a severe rice shortage in the province next year.
Provincial agriculture officials have said the poorest farmers living in upland areas are most vulnerable to hunger and starvation, as they have suffered the double disasters of drought and a plague of mice eating most of their crops.
The destruction of crops by mice was mainly reported in Paxaeng, Ngoy and Xieng-ngeun districts, despite the provincial authorities' efforts to protect the rice crop through the use of traps.
Experts say climate change and human actions were the causes of the mouse plague, as they brought about changes in the ecosystem and the food chain. For instance, people have destroyed forestry areas and the natural food source of the mice, as well as killing mouse predators such as birds and snakes.
Director of Luang Prabang's provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr Somphong Pradychit, said farmers are only able to produce 70 percent of the rice needed to feed the whole province.
This means that 30 percent of Luang Prabang's rice needs to be imported from other provinces.
Last year, rice yields in the province attained less than 100,000 tonnes, but this year the harvest will even be worse, Mr Somphong predicted.
Of the province's total rice yield, 30 percent comes from slash-and-burn cultivation, covering an area of at least 17,000 hectares. But this year, about half of this area has been wiped out by a lack of rainfall and a plague of mice.
Luang Prabang province has 13,000 hectares of flatland rice fields. But this year, many hectares were destroyed by flooding, particularly in Nambak district and the provincial capital.
“This year, we are focusing on a new method of single rice seeding to boost yields. We have already transplanted some 1,000 hectares this year and the yield should be 6 or 7 tonnes per hectare,” Mr Somphong said.
This year, natural disasters have affected most of the provinces in Laos. Some provinces in the north were affected by flooding, landslides and mice while farmers in the south were affected by lack of rainfall.
In Oudomxay province, mice destroyed many hectares of crops, and authorities are very concerned about the rice situation there.
In Attapeu province, food security has become a major concern after substantial damage to farmland from extensive flooding and drought since September last year, when typhoon Ketsana struck the province.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry set the target for the country's rice production this year at 3.3 million tonnes. Many experts have predicted yields may fall short of the target due to the effects of natural disasters.
Inflation is currently very high in Laos, triggered by high rice prices throughout the country. This is affecting the livelihoods of many Lao people, mainly the poor.
vientiane times
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