Champassak to focus on agricultural production
Champassak provincial authorities have pledged to promote and strengthen agricultural production to take advantage of growing domestic demand as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Deputy Governor of Champassak, Mr Malaithong Kommasith, told local media recently that Covid-19 has had a major negative impact on the local economy. However, the tightened measures on cross-border travels have indirectly helped increase the demand for agricultural products in Champassak.
“Champassak has a huge potential to produce many agricultural products and farmers have a long tradition of producing rice, coffee, tea, fruit, vegetables and many other crops,” he said.
The marketing challenge forced local producers to sometimes sell their crops at lower and loss-making prices, which in turn discouraged them from further expanding their commercial productivity.
It is understandable that when farmers produce a particular crop but fail to sell it they shift to growing other kinds of crops. Some coffee farmers are now chopping down their coffee plantations and making way for cassava – as the latter is a more lucrative business.
Somsack Pongkhao
