Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – On Friday, Lao Prime Minister Somsay Siphandone addressed the closing ceremony of the 2025 review meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in Champasak Province, urging Laos to strengthen agricultural production and trade cooperation, simultaneously enhance the protection of forests, land, and water resources, and strive to build an independent and self-reliant economy.
Prime Minister Somsay instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to prioritize food security, emphasizing that Laos needs to achieve self-sufficiency in plant and animal varieties, science and technology, and production inputs, reducing its reliance on imports of feed, fertilizers, pesticides, and veterinary drugs by expanding domestic production.
He pointed out the need to focus on improving soil quality, protecting high-quality farmland, improving irrigation and other supporting infrastructure, scientifically delineating production areas, and clarifying development priorities; at the same time, optimizing water resource utilization efficiency, promoting a model of planting more rice during the rainy season and high-value cash crops during the dry season to help increase farmers' income.
Prime Minister Somsay stated that Lao agriculture needs to move beyond self-sufficiency. While ensuring domestic food supply, it should expand planting and breeding scale, replace imports with agricultural products, and expand exports. This will lay a solid foundation for the development of the agricultural processing industry and increase national fiscal revenue.
He instructed relevant departments to strengthen crop disease prevention and control, improve the inter-provincial agricultural product processing and distribution system, establish seed and grain reserve mechanisms, and enhance the ability to cope with climate change and drought/flood disasters. He also called for increased support for farmers to help them improve production techniques, enhance product quality, and achieve increased income and improved quality. All departments need to coordinate and cooperate to implement planned production, clarify development goals, and build stable market sales channels.
Prime Minister Somsay emphasized that Lao agricultural products should meet domestic and international market standards. Localities should leverage their own advantages to promote deep integration of production and processing, increase product added value, and create distinctive Lao brands. He called for strengthened communication and cooperation with neighboring countries to open up more overseas markets for Lao clean, fresh, pesticide-free, high-quality agricultural products, and to introduce policies to encourage investment in local agricultural product processing and value-added sectors. Furthermore, he stressed the need to guide the public to purchase high-quality, affordable domestic agricultural products and expand agricultural production to support tourism development.
Regarding agricultural structural reform, Prime Minister Somsay proposed leveraging technology and building large-scale specialized production zones to promote agricultural modernization, transforming scattered production into a chain-like system, and achieving the goals of increasing output, improving quality, reducing costs, and strengthening competitiveness. He also encouraged the development of collective and cooperative production, as well as new agricultural models that deeply integrate technology with small and medium-sized enterprises.
Forest management is another key focus in Laos. Prime Minister Somsay stated that the government will fully promote the achievement of the 70% forest coverage target, carry out degraded forest restoration and afforestation in key areas, strictly protect forests, mitigate the impact of droughts and floods, and ensure the water needs of agricultural production.
In terms of land management, Laos will promote the "National Land Allocation Master Plan" nationwide to guide land development and protection, legally issue land ownership and use rights certificates, and cover residents in three types of forest areas. At the same time, it will severely crack down on illegal activities such as land encroachment, illegal transfer, duplicate certificate issuance, and encroachment on forest land.
Environmental protection work will adhere to a pragmatic and green development direction, relying on scientific natural resource planning, precise regional division, and a sound waste management system. Prime Minister Somsay proposed improving the water resources governance system, studying the establishment of a National Water Resources Management Committee, and promoting the transformation of water resources management from departmental control to basin-wide integrated management.
He called for coordinated water release from hydropower stations and irrigation reservoirs to ensure the water needs of the people; to shift disaster management from emergency response to proactive monitoring and early warning supported by modern technology; to treat groundwater as a strategic reserve resource during droughts; and to strengthen water pollution control and riverbank ecological protection.
Rural development and poverty reduction remain core tasks. Laos will formulate a strategic plan to stabilize resident settlement and ensure livelihoods, reduce disorderly population movement, encourage social capital investment in rural areas, create jobs, increase residents' income, and fully implement the Party's "Three Constructions" policy.
Finally, Prime Minister Somsay emphasized that agricultural development, environmental protection, and rural construction need to be promoted in a coordinated manner to provide a solid guarantee for the long-term stable growth of Laos' economy.
