Food & Climate
Growing vegetables was not an option in Lao Democratic Republic, but a new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) project opened up new perspectives, showing that successful vegetable farming could happen in both the rainy and dry seasons.
People who would rot or wash away and the effort would be wasted, Growing vegetables now is a successful and brings good income to the farmers, according a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
La Xayyavieng says he has “always known that agriculture is the lifeline for us to survive and to grow.”
The 46-year-old father of three has long harboured the wish for his children to be agents of change, bringing knowledge and experience back from neighbouring Vietnam to the family’s land in Attapeu province in the southeast of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
But as things have turned out, La himself is already creating the change. He’s increased the family’s income by 160 percent in just one season, thanks to a bumper watermelon crop – and without needing to set foot outside his country.
Climate REAl
The spectacular transformation has come after he was selected as one of the residents from his home village of Phok, in Saysettha District, to take part in a project called “Building Climate-Resilient and Eco-friendly Agriculture Systems and Livelihoods” (Climate REAL). The initiative is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with financial support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
For years, La’s annual income was less than USD 1 350 (LAK 30 million) – barely enough to meet their basic needs.
Lack of access to technologies and knowledge limited La to traditional practices, relying for income on rain-fed rice farming. Getting by in the rainy season was always problematic.
It was during learning and knowledge exchange visits to other project areas in Savannakhet and Champasak Provinces further to the north, that La realised what the future could hold.
“I knew from the bottom of my heart that greenhouses would work for me as soon as I saw them and understood what they were,” he explained.
Built with support from the project and the farmers themselves, greenhouses minimize damage caused by waterlogging or heavy rain. With this structure, La reported that he was able to earn nearly as much in just four months as he would previously earn in a whole year.
Greenhouse helps growing vegetables
The greenhouse helps growing vegetables. It also helps to minimise waterlogging and damage from heavy rain. While the plastic sheeting was provided by the project, farmers contributed their labour and items such as the wooden structures and nails. But for the greenhouses to be successfully used, La would further develop his skills through Farmer Field School training and would receive agricultural inputs to get started.
A key part of his skills development was agribusiness training, which provided La with guidance on understanding market needs and business operations such as record-keeping and analysis.
From the first rainy season crop of lettuce, choy sum, coriander, morning glory and shallot all grown in the greenhouse, La reported that he was able to earn nearly as much in just four months as he would previously earn in a whole year.
The Climate REAL project also supplied watermelon, cucumber and corn seeds for La to experiment with during the dry season. These proved to be a huge success, with La seeing a return-on-investment of up to 900 percent for watermelon. This was not just luck but due to a combination of the whole range of skills he acquired, from land preparation right through to harvesting.
The solar-powered, small-scale irrigation system provided under the project and shared by several nearby farmers has been a key factor in increased profits as La does not have to cover the cost of electricity to irrigate.
“In only 75 days of work, I earned an income of LAK 38.5 million (USD 1 738) from selling watermelon and LAK 2.65 million (USD 117) from selling cucumber. Where else I could earn such money from what I am passionate about?”