Agriculture and fishing
Binh Phuoc suspends six forest projects
The southern province of Binh Phuoc will stop clearing natural forest land for the planting of industrial trees with high economic value, the provincial authority has announced. Binh Phuoc Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that it had initially suspended six projects for developing ...
New community fisheries project to preserve Mekong's biodiversity
A new community fisheries project in the Mekong River was launched in Vientiane on August 28 with the Department of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry agreeing to cooperate with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the DLF’s Deputy ...
Chin State to focus on trade, SMEs and tourism
The Chin State government will focus on developing three main areas of the local economy over the next five years – trade, small and medium enterprises, and tourism – according to the state minister for development, electricity and industry. Local officials will work with the Union ...
Battambang rice-farming families fear floods
About 40,000 Battambang rice-farming families already suffering steep losses from a severe drought are at risk of seeing their crops wiped out entirely by devastating floods as late seasonal rains start to kick in. A drought that meteorologists have blamed on the tail-end of an El ...
Non-ASEAN investors now qualify for local privileges
Non-ASEAN-based investors who have already invested in ASEAN will now be eligible for privileges enjoyed by their ASEAN counterparts in five sectors: agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and industrial. The International Economic Policy Committee chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on August 22 approved a proposal by ...
Korean company looking to crack open cashew nut market
Champassak province farmers will be supported in planting thousands of hectares of cashew nut trees after the provincial Administration Office gave the go ahead for a US$9 million Korean project. Deputy Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr Viengsay Sipraphone, told Vientiane Times on ...
Emergency meeting on rice
Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector convened an emergency meeting on August 16 to tackle falling rice exports and help rice millers currently in financial doldrums due to severe shortage of funds to buy harvested rice from farmers to be milled for export. The Kingdom’s rice exports fell by ...
Vietnamese farmers indignant as Mekong Delta prays for flood waters to arrive
Fishermen in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been complaining about lower water levels and falling catches with experts blaming China’s construction of hydropower projects on the upper Mekong River. According to the experts, the dams have blocked fish from moving downstream and trapped sediment needed to enrich ...
Bananas on the Lancang: grown in Yunnan, destined for Shanxi
Along the banks of the Lancang in Yunnan, bananas grown from the river’s water are part of a complex network of national trade. Luc Forsyth and Gareth Bright have set out on a journey to follow the Mekong river from sea to source, The Diplomat will ...
New Mekong dams to affect millions in Vietnam
Building more dams along the Mekong River will destroy the livelihoods of millions of people, according to a report commissioned by the Vietnamese government. It also says plans to construct new dams will damage crops with salt water intrusion, particularly in the south where the Mekong ...