Constraints, mitigations, and opportunities for sustainable development of rice-based system in Laos

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world after wheat [1] and a staple food for an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide, especially in many developing countries [2]. Rice is currently grown in over a hundred countries that produce more than 715 million tons of paddy rice annually equivalent to 480 million tons of milled rice [3]. About four-fifths of global milled rice is produced by small-scale farmers in developing countries with almost a billion households in these regions depending on rice systems for their primary source of employment and livelihood [2].

The Per capita daily rice consumption inmost Asian countries is the higher compared to other continents. Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines boasts of highest per capita daily rice consumption with reported intakes of over 300g per capita annually [3]. Rice is the staple food in Laos being grown on more than 49% of the cultivated land with annual production of about 3.27 Million tons of paddy mainly for subsistence consumption [4]. With a per capita consumption of milled rice per annum of 171 kilograms that constitute almost 70% of calorie and protein intake [4](Maclean et al., 2002), rice production plays an integral part socio-economic lives of Lao’ssmallholders. The three major rice production systems in Lao are paddy rice (season rice), irrigated rice and upland rice. More than 84% of production happens in the wet season under rainfed conditions [5]. While irrigated rice is cultivated along the Mekong River in the dry season. The lowland rainfed rice accounts for more than 70% of rice cultivated and produced in Laos with less than of 13% of total rice production occurring under irrigation conditions. Upland rice, on the other hand, is produced on steep slopes at higher altitudes above sea level up to as high as 1500 m [6], and is characterized by shifting cultivation and low productivity. No current data on extend to which upland rice is produced in Laos PDR is available, but Chazee (1994), estimated that about 2.1 million ha was used for rice production on a rotational basis under the ‘slash-and-burn’ cultivation system. More recently [7], estimated that area under upland rice cultivation had reduced to about 1.2 hectares in 2012 with a production of about 2.2 million tons.

The northern parts of Laos PDR is characterized by a large number of smallholder and resource-poor farmers that produce upland rice in sloping, unbounded fields under slash-and-burn systems without fertilizer under rainfed conditions for subsistence consumption[8][9]. This traditional upland rice cropping system accounts for more than 50% of the total rice produced in this region. With annual consumption of about 220 kg /person, the produced rice is sufficient for only 6-7 months. Despite effort and achievements of the Laos PDR government to ensure self-sufficiency of rice at the national level, various studies have reported that about 30% of the population has insufficient food for more than six months of the year [10][6]. 1.1 Statement of the Problem Annual rice production is unstable since most production is under rain-fed conditions accounting for over 10% of the annual variability in rice production. According to IRRI 1999, 87% of the rice produced in Laos in 1998, was rainfed and only 13% was produced under irrigation. There is need to sustainably reduce the area of rainfed upland rice and increase that of irrigated rice. There is still a significant yield gap in irrigated rice production that can be bridged without further investment inland and water development and increase rice production substantially Almost all rice in Laos is transplanted by hand and harvested by no mechanized methods which hamper rapid and massive increase in yield. This system is labour intensive and hence increases the cost of farm inputs. More so hand transplantation is slow, and the cultivated rice most often is not uniform when the area under cultivation is large causing staggered harvest. Technological, productivity and climatic constraints such, unavailability or high cost of labor, unavailability of quality seed in time, unavailability of sufficient farmyard manure limit production of rice. Economic factors like price fluctuation and existing gap between rice grain and parboiled rice adversely affect rice production. The scarcity of land and water resources, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity had significantly limited the expansion of rice production in both developed and developing countries.

As the population and income of people are rising, the demand for food is increasing and meeting the food requirements of the growing population for global food security poses a considerable challenge. Growing prosperity is accompanied by human diets that will claim more natural resources per capita. This reality, combined with growing populations, may raise the global demand for food crops two-to four-folds within two generations. Deccline inland and water resources, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity limits development of sustainable food production in both developed and developing countries.

Biotic and abiotic constraints at farm level most significantly droughts and floods, poor soil fertility, pests and diseases and off-farm constraints such as high production costs, fluctuating market prices, and uncertain trade policy limit farmers’ production beyond household self-sufficiency [5]. More so, increased intensity of cropping rice leading to low nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil coupled with inherent low water retention capacity of soils in this region against a background of irregular rainfall only serve to exacerbate the problem [9]. To ensure enough supply for the year, additional rice has to be procured from neighboring provinces. However poor road network coupled with the fact that poor smallholder farmers lack funds to frequently buy rice make this avenue unfeasible.

Sudden changes in rice policies in Laos are frequent and cause significant losses to both millers and farmers. For instance, Lao government policy in 2010 to liberalize the rice industry and allow farmers to export rice outside the country resulted in unexpected rapid exhaustion of rice stock forcing the government to import rice at very high prices [11]. Shifting cultivation has been associated with a decline inland and water resources, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity that consequently limits the development of sustainable food production in both developed and developing countries. Constraints such as a dietary preference for rice and the inability to introduce tillage technology on sloping lands in Luang Prabang, however, make it hard to modify livelihood strategies and land-use [12].

Currently, no sustainable rice production systems that are easy to adopt which will help smallholder farmers exist in Xieng Nguen District (XND) and hence farmers are unable to produce enough rice for consumption and commercial purposes. The need to develop modern rice farming systems for resource-poor farmers of Xieng Nguen District is therefore apparent. This study aims to identify critical constraints affecting rice production systems and review opportunities that exist in the rice production systems in XND, Lao PDR. The study also aims at designing complementary initiatives such as micro-insurance geared towards providing security to farmers in the face of unforeseen weather events. The findings of this study will help in establishing new systems that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, flexible and resilient to climate change.