Agriculture and fishing
Dams 'destroying Mekong fish stock'
Fishermen in delta and Northeast Thailand say dams in China and Laos have hit breeding and yields, forcing many to quit. Mekong River fishermen have already suffered dramatically from dams and irrigation works, which have decimated fish stocks and undermined livelihoods that supported families for generations.Nguyen Anh ...
Vietnamese keep off vegetables on pesticide fears
Vietnamese are consuming too much starch and sugar and only half the amount of daily vegetables recommended, partly because of worries about pesticides, experts said. A recent survey by the National Institute of Nutrition found a person in Vietnam consumes 200 grams of vegetables on average ...
Costco sued over claims Thai shrimp harvested with slave labour
Costco Wholesale Corp was sued for selling farmed shrimp from Thailand, where slave labour and human trafficking in the fishing industry are widespread, and allegedly misleading US consumers about it. A California woman, Monica Sud, filed what may be the first such lawsuit against the retailer ...
Thailand’s Mekong water-diversion plan raises concerns
The Thai government’s statement in late July that it is considering bringing water from the Mekong, Moei and Salween rivers to farmland to nine of its provinces has raised major concerns. The water diversion has been described as a move to ‘extract blood from the Mekong’s ...
‘Slave’ fishermen not all trafficking victims
The return of hundreds more Myanmar fishermen found in slave-like conditions in Indonesia could be in jeopardy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the embassy in Jakarta separated the rescued men into two different categories: trafficking victims and non-trafficked “slaves”. The 91 who have been identified as ...
Floods damage Vientiane rice crop
Farmers in two districts of Vientiane are unable to replant their rice after seedlings in thousands of low-lying plots recently disappeared under floodwater. Parts of Sangthong and Naxaithong districts were inundated following torrential rain earlier this month and farmers are dismayed because they say it is ...
Seeds scarce as replanting begins
Disaster zones in Rakhine State urgently need paddy seeds, said a civil society organisation based in the state. U Thein Win, a member of the Wunlark Rural Development Foundation in Sittwe, said local farmers had to cultivate more paddy this month. Keep reading ...
16 Vietnamese localities urged to map out action plans on agricultural restructuring
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Hanoi on 13 August reviewing the implementation of agricultural restructuring measures in the past two years. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended the conference. Keep reading ...
Lao researchers seeking to introduce faster growing rice varieties
The Naphok Agricultural Research Centre is seeking to produce early maturing varieties of rice seed for Lao farmers to plant in the coming years, as part of efforts to reduce the disaster related impacts of climate change. Researchers at the centre are currently conducting ongoing research into ...
Organising Vietnamese - Japanese second high-level dialogue on agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries held the second high-level dialogue on agricultural development cooperation in Hanoi on 12 August. At the dialogue, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat called on the ...
