The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), kicked off a two-week training course on animal quarantine management in Sing District, a border area between Lao People’s Democratic Republic and China. The training course aimed to accelerate safer cattle trade between the two countries and improve cattle export to China.

The activity is part of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Project on transboundary animal diseases control in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MARA), and in close collaboration with the Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

Lao animal quarantine and health officers, farmers, livestock traders and village veterinary workers are expected to learn quarantine and health requirements for cattle to be exported to China, which the protocol was signed by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) and MAF in 2019 and revised in 2022. In the protocol, cattle are required to be quarantined in the fattening zone for 45 days and quarantine zone for 30 days located in Sing District, before exporting to China. This protocol was released to minimize the risk of disease transmissions of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) – two common livestock diseases in the country – along the value chain. 

Better control of transboundary animal disease will not only improve the livelihoods of agricultural communities but also boost economic growth by stimulating exports to the neighbouring country. According to data from GACC, more than 2.3 million tonnes of beef were imported to China from all over the world in 2022, with only less than one percent coming from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.