June 2, 2010
Stakeholders to Boost Competitiveness of Staple Food Value Chains in Laos, Southeast Asia
Better Food Market Efficiency Seen as Crucial to Laos Food Security
Emerging economies learned a lot from the 2008 food crisis, especially on the importance of regional trade to national food security. A key lesson in Laos and Southeast Asia is the need to improve agricultural market efficiencies.
Toward that end, ACDI/VOCA staff held a two-day consultative workshop in Vientiane to discuss findings from our assessment of cross-border staple food markets in northern Laos and to probe further the value chain approach toward developing a competitiveness strategy for the region’s staple food sectors.
More than 60 senior-level government officials, nongovernmental organization (NGO) representatives, donors and members of the private sector attended the May 27-28 event, where they discussed Laos’ staple food crop opportunities and how to link the area’s “vulnerable but viable” smallholder farmers to regional cross-border trade.
Staple Food Value Chain Constraints: Poor Seeds, Few Processors
On the first day, Adam Keatts (pictured at left, in center), ACDI/VOCA’s regional director for Southeast Asia, and Janice K. Stallard, ACDI/VOCA’s senior technical director, presented an overview of findings from their assessment of cross-border staple food markets in northern Laos, entitled “Staple Food Value Chains in the Crossroads of Southeast Asia: Promoting Regional Food Security in Lao PDR.”
The assessment identifies a range of constraints to Laos’ food value chains, including (1) poor access to high-quality seeds; (2) significant losses during post-harvest handling; and (3) limited availability of processing facilities to increase the value of raw materials.
Moving forward, ACDI/VOCA and its partners will work with the private sector in Laos to ease these constraints and develop other market-based solutions for area smallholder farmers.
Diving Deeper into Value Chains, Staple Crop Opportunities
During the workshop’s second day, Lao government officials and NGO technical staff delved deeper into the value chain approach. Stallard and Keatts guided the stakeholders through an introductory value chain training that summarized key elements of the value chain approach and explained how to develop a competitiveness strategy for staple food sectors.
During group work, the participants applied their new knowledge of the value chain approach to identify and design feasible market-led interventions in Laos.
Next Steps in Laos
The workshop laid a foundation for partnerships and potential new activities for ACDI/VOCA in Laos and Southeast Asia. The workshop was jointly organized with SNV Netherlands Development Organization and the Laos-based EDC consulting firm, and included presentations by ACDI/VOCA staff, SNV, Nathan Associates and the Laos Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Prior to this event, the Laos Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted ACDI/VOCA a formal operating permit indicating the government’s support for potential ACDI/VOCA-led initiatives in the agricultural sector.
The permit will allow ACDI/VOCA to start up new project opportunities and implement future initiatives with the support of the host government.
Keatts, who is based in Vientiane, will help develop new programs in Laos and throughout the region.
Laos Value Chain Assessment Report Coming Soon
The value chain assessment report for Laos will be available to the public via our website (www.acdivoca.org) at the end of June. Issues and recommendations raised in the report draw from discussions with input providers, farmers, traders, processors, wholesalers and financial service providers centering on the constraints to conducting and managing regional cross-border agribusiness effectively.
ACDI/VOCA would like to thank the national, provincial and district-level government officials in Laos for supporting our team’s visit to northern Laos.
For more information, please contact Adam Keatts at akeatts@acdivoca.org.
