|
Lao-Indochina gives cash up front for cassava
Cassava growers who sell their crop to the Lao-Indochina Group Public Company are satisfied with their new and improved payment system after experiencing problems with the old system.
 |
| Trucks from Hom district, in Vientiane province, wait in line at the factory weighing station to deliver cassava and collect their payment. |
Farmers in Vientiane and in Borikhamxay and Vientiane provinces sell a large amount of cassava to the company, and they are now paid cash in hand immediately upon delivery of cassava to the company's tapioca factory in Pakngum district, Vientiane.
“We can get the money straight away; the company does not delay payments or owe us money anymore,” Pakngum farmer Mr Suansouang said while he was checking his money at the cashier's box at the factory on Saturday.
Company CEO Mr Sengmaly Sengvatthana said that in previous years, farmers were only paid three days after they delivered their cassava, as it took that long for the money to arrive at the company's headquarters. This meant an extra trip to the office for farmers, often without extra crops on board.
This was frustrating as farmers had to spend a lot of time and effort going back and forth, Mr Sengmaly said. Things will change this year after the company realised that this method of payment was not convenient, and resulted in some farmers being less enthusiastic about supplying the factory.
“What we are doing now is changing our payment methods to better suit the farmers,” Mr Sengmaly said. A cashier at the factory, Ms Laty Siharath, said currently she pays at least 200 million kip per day to the farmers and sometimes she has to work until midnight because the factory buys cassava 24 hours a day.
The improvement has seen more farmers grow more of the crop and also encouraged new cassava farmers to join the company's plantation project. One young farmer is Mr Phonexay from Phonxay village in Hom district, Vientiane province.
He said his family had started growing cassava this year, but only on about one hectare to start with, after seeing his neighbours grow cassava and receive a better retu rn than for other crops.
“Next year I will plant out three hectares with cassava and we will increase it every year if it works out,” he said. Mr Phonexay is also proud of the fact that his crop is completely organic, and does not use any chemicals at all.
Another farmer delivering cassava to the plant, Mr Nith from Thaphabath district in Borikhamxay province, said he grew three hectares of cassava last year but hopes to grow more next year now that he is getting paid at the factory gate.
Mr Suansouang, an established cassava farmer who is also Deputy President of the Federation of Trade Unions in Vientiane, said he had his expanded his cassava crop every year. He started with 10 hectares in 2009, grew 15 hectares last year, 20 hectares this year and will expand to 25 hectares next year.
“The company paid me over 100 million kip last year and this year that will rise to two or three hundred million kip,” he said.
The company has encouraged farmers in Vientiane and Borikhamxay provinces and outlying districts of the capital to grow cassava since 2005. Currently there are 2,713 families growing cassava in 171 villages in 14 separate districts. Together they grow cassava on a total area of 7,689 hectares to supply to the company.
The company expects to have 10,500 hectares under plantation by 2013, and that will be enough to satisfy the maximum processing capacity of the plant.
The Pakngum factory can produce 320 tonnes of tapioca daily, which requires 1,200 tonnes of raw cassava. However, only 700 tonnes of cassava can be supplied at present.
The company also gives loans to farmers who do not have sufficient capital to plant and harvest cassava, in order to entice more farmers to plant the crop. They will also delay repayments if farmers make only a small profit or if they lose their crop due to weather extremes.
vientiane times
|
