Frequent drought restricts the production of rainfed rice in Thailand and Laos. Through the growing season, rainfall in Laos and in northern and northeastern Thailand is unpredictable in quantity and timing. In addition, relatively permeable but infertile soils undermine the yields from rice cultivars presently in use.
Rice occupies a large proportion (between 63 and 87 per cent) of the 0.75 million hectares of cropped land area in Laos, but about 98 per cent of the area is rainfed. Of 9.6 million hectares of rice crops in Thailand, 50 per cent are in northern and northeastern rainfed areas that yield only 2 tonnes per hectare on average, contributing 26 per cent of the total Thai production in 1993-94.
Lao PDR, for its part, wanted to achieve achieve high annual rice yields and a surplus for export. Thailand, though already a rice export, needed to ensure stable production levels as many of its subsistence farmers rely on rice production.
Click on an icon to view projects.
