Agriculture and fishing

There was a time when scores of some of the world’s largest freshwater fishes swam up the Mekong River, past the Laotian town of Luang Prabang, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Giant catfish the size of grizzly bears, seven-striped barb, giant pangasius, and other huge fish once made ...

As dawn breaks on the serene lake of Bình Thiên in An Giang Province, fisherman Đặng Hữu Đức instructs his 17-year-old son to cast a net into the clear water of the largest freshwater lake in Việt Nam’s Mekong Delta. To his son’s disappointment, when the net ...

The early 2000s saw a boom in the banana farming sector in southern China. By 2008, the fruit had become an increasingly popular target of investment, with low supply and soaring prices, and banana plantations were set up across China, as well as in Myanmar ...

At the United Nations COP26 summit in Scotland, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh joined 109 countries in pledging to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. To meet the commitment, the Southeast Asian nation will need to look at rice – one of the ...

Several years ago, I counted more than 300 cranes in the wetlands near my rice field,” says farmer Khean Khoay, as he reminisces about the regal-looking eastern sarus crane. Khoay’s village, Koh Chamkar in Kampot province, lies on the outskirts of the Anlung Pring protected landscape in ...

Health officials in Laos have asked the government to encourage farmers to grow other crops as alternatives to growing tobacco. Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Sanong Thongsana, has provided answers to questions by National Assembly members on Friday regarding the amendment of the draft law on ...

A MEGA irrigation system to supply water to agricultural fields in the Mekong Delta is expected to be completed in two weeks. It is also expected to save the southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta from drought and increasing salinity. According to a Vn Express report, the system is ...

Like many locals, Matthana Abhaimoon left rural Thailand to study in the city. Unlike most, she chose to come back – and fight for her right to farm in the forest as her forefathers had done. After a 20-year campaign, residents of Mae Tha won a ...

A research project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), through Charles Sturt University, has produced highly durable and sustainable food alternatives to rice by simulating international climates in a glasshouse in Wagga Wagga.  The project ‘Farmer’s options for crops under saline conditions in ...

Overfishing and habitat degradation caused by rapid population growth, infrastructure development, and climate change are stressing the Lower Mekong Basin’s fisheries while changes in the Basin’s aquatic ecosystems are impacting social conditions, reports Laotian Times. This was discussed in two reports released today by the Mekong River ...