Banana farms ordered to stop
Chinese farms in Laos’ provinces have been suspended due to their ongoing use of hazardous chemicals which are having negative impacts on people’s health and the environment. The Prime Minister’s Office’s ordered the farms which are preparing to cultivate banana trees to cease their efforts while thousands of hectares of banana plantations which have already planted the trees will not be allowed to plant any more suckers after harvesting their crops. Director of the Oudomxay provincial Planting and Investment Department, Mr Onkeo Ounralom, told the press on December 9 that banana farms in the country’s provinces have been found to be using hazardous chemicals after checks by state and international agencies. Mr Onkeo said it’s regrettable that the reports did not mention which provinces in the country used the chemicals, only stating that banana plantations in the north of the country were at fault. We will halt the banana plantations but we don’t want to lose these Chinese investors from the country; in Oudomxay we will plant other clean crops instead, he said. The northern provinces of Bokeo, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay and Phongsaly mainly grow bananas for export to China.
