Agriculture and fishing

The Mandalay regional government will cease issuances of new commercial fishing licenses for Taungthaman Lake in a bid to conserve the body of water. Aung Maung, development affairs minister for Mandalay Division, announced the plan during the 13th regular session of the Mandalay divisional parliament on ...

The volume of Vietnam’s rice export to African markets in the first seven months of this year rose by 52% in the comparison to the same period last year. Keep reading ...

Fishermen in delta and Northeast Thailand say dams in China and Laos have hit breeding and yields, forcing many to quit. Mekong River fishermen have already suffered dramatically from dams and irrigation works, which have decimated fish stocks and undermined livelihoods that supported families for generations.Nguyen Anh ...

Vietnamese are consuming too much starch and sugar and only half the amount of daily vegetables recommended, partly because of worries about pesticides, experts said.   A recent survey by the National Institute of Nutrition found a person in Vietnam consumes 200 grams of vegetables on average ...

Costco Wholesale Corp was sued for selling farmed shrimp from Thailand, where slave labour and human trafficking in the fishing industry are widespread, and allegedly misleading US consumers about it. A California woman, Monica Sud, filed what may be the first such lawsuit against the retailer ...

The Thai government’s statement in late July that it is considering bringing water from the Mekong, Moei and Salween rivers to farmland to nine of its provinces has raised major concerns.  The water diversion has been described as a move to ‘extract blood from the Mekong’s ...

The return of hundreds more Myanmar fishermen found in slave-like conditions in Indonesia could be in jeopardy.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the embassy in Jakarta separated the rescued men into two different categories: trafficking victims and non-trafficked “slaves”. The 91 who have been identified as ...

Farmers in two districts of Vientiane are unable to replant their rice after seedlings in thousands of low-lying plots recently disappeared under floodwater. Parts of Sangthong and Naxaithong districts were inundated following torrential rain earlier this month and farmers are dismayed because they say it is ...

Disaster zones in Rakhine State urgently need paddy seeds, said a civil society organisation based in the state. U Thein Win, a member of the Wunlark Rural Development Foundation in Sittwe, said local farmers had to cultivate more paddy this month. Keep reading ...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Hanoi on 13 August reviewing the implementation of agricultural restructuring measures in the past two years. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended the conference.   Keep reading ...