Farmers are concerned about their harvest
(KPL) The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) informed in June this year that unusually dry weather conditions are adversely affecting farmers in various parts of Lao PDR.
The slow start of the rainy season put many farmers in a difficult position with possibilities of much reduced harvest this year, according to this week’s press release of FAO.
The planting rains that usually start at the end of May have been late and in the villages that FAO has surveyed on a weekly basis the first substantial rains came only last weekend. A prolonged shortage in rainfalls since the beginning of the year has in many areas had an impact on the water supply for paddy nurseries and livestock.
A Food Emergency Officer from FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, Dr. Kisan Gunjal, is currently visiting Lao PDR to review the situation. “A Joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) during harvesting season could reliably indicate if and where there is a need for emergency assistance among the affected populations.” CFSAMs are undertaken by the United Nations’ food agencies at the request of the Government and can provide independent information for planning to the Government and the donors.
On 16-18 July an FAO team visited Ban Sen Phan, Boualapha district, Khammouane province. The village had been offered improved seeds by the DAFO after it had become known that farmers had lost their seeds due to having had to start over many times and had lost their seeds as the nurseries dried up several times in the past months. However, consulted farmers said that they decided not to take seeds as they feel it is already too late in the season to start with new nurseries. An in depth assessment would help evaluate the country-wide situation.
“The new concern could be if the current heavy rains stay too long on the fields where farmers last weekend managed to transplant some of their seedlings” says Serge Verniau, FAO Representative to Lao PDR. “The unusual weather circumstances are hard for the farmers to cope with. It should be of great concern, as these farmers are now at risk of losing this year’s crop if they haven’t already done so which would be devastating for them”.
By the end of June, farmers would normally have all their rice plants transplanted, but this year the nurseries have failed in many areas and the transplanting is delayed.
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