The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) is providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) for better formulation and management of policies, strategies and projects in support of agricultural development in the country.

MAF shoulders heavy and increasing responsibilities in order to cope with newly emerging challenges such as climate change and demands for biofuels, international trade in food and regional economic integration.

Speaking at the project inception in Vientiane today, FAO’s representative in Laos, Serge Verniau, said “It is important to have inclusive dialogues, involving farmers and rural dwellers in addition to the public and private sectors, to advance socio-economic development of the country and promote environmental sustainability”.

Capacity building is needed especially at the local level as Laos is progressively decentralizing decision-making and financial management powers to provinces, districts and villages, FAO added.

The ministry formulates policies and strategies, and develops and prioritizes programmes and action plans to help implement the national poverty eradication programme (NPEP). It works to ensure that agricultural policies and legal frameworks are consistent with the countries international commitments. It must also evaluate and report progress towards the Millennium Development Goal and World Food Summit commitments.

However, the ministry needs to boast the number of qualified analytical and operational experts to carry out these tasks satisfactorily. Present levels of skills, knowledge and technical infrastructure are inadequate for modernization of agriculture in Laos.

"FAO has a wealth of knowledge, acquired in diverse countries and in diverse circumstances, on how to formulate, implement and execute agricultural development policy and programmes. We are glad to have an opportunity to put this knowledge to good use in cooperation with the government of the Lao PDR", noted Mr Verniau.

This technical assistance aims to strengthen institutional capacity in MAF through hands-on training in data collection and analysis, use of database and ICT and through a series of workshops on consensus building, policy analysis, strategy formulation, programme development, monitoring and evaluation as well as in socio-economic and gender analysis.

For more information, please contact the FAO Office in Vientiane, email [email protected] or telephone (021) 413205.

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF THE FAO REPRESENTATIVE IN LAO PDR