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PROJECT “NETWORK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
THINK-TAKS FOR COUNTRIES IN MEKONG-SUB REGION” (NARDT)

Despite of decline in area, Vietnam production output has remained high
mainly thanks to improvement of yield. While Lao and Cambodia rice areas have
increased to supplement the production growth while the yield remained lightly
changed.

In general, with high production output, three countries play an important
position in the ASEAN region and the world markets. Rice production of Viet Nam,
Cambodia, and Lao PDR accounted for about 50% of total paddy rice output of the
Mekong sub-region (including Thailand and Myanmar) and 30% of rice output of
ASEAN countries. This accounts for about 7-8% of the total rice supply in the world.
If Thailand is included, the rice output of the four countries accounted for about 12%
of the total world rice output in 2021. Therefore, the role of the three countries is very
important in regional and world food security thanks to the large proportion in the
world’s rice market.
Table 4: Share of total paddy rice output of Viet Nam, Lao PDR,
and Cambodia (%)

Share in GMS rice Share in ASEAN rice Share in the world
Year
output output rice output
2015 46.26 24.98 8.09
2016 47.73 24.55 8.05
2017 48.98 25.93 7.73
2018 48.83 29.27 7.83

2019 45.65 27.40 6.78
2020 51.30 30.59 7.78
2021 50.56 30.52 7.68

* GMS - Great Mekong sub-region including Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand,
and Myanmar.
Source: Estimated from AFSIS and USDA data.

Compared with the region, the average rice yield of Viet Nam, Cambodia,
and Lao PDR is about 5 tons/ha much higher than that of Thailand but lower than
the world average. In addition, while the overall yield of the ASEAN region tends to
decrease, the yield of these countries increased by about 1.62% in 2021 compared to
2015, in which the fastest increase is Cambodia with 8.11% and Viet Nam only 3.5%
while this figure decreased in Lao PDR. This increase is mainly due to increase in
use and investment in fertilizers, pesticides, high-yield rice varieties, and disease
control measures. However, rice yield increase is not a top priority of these countries
in recent years. There is a tendency to improve rice quality among the countries by
using sustainable seed, technologies, and good production practices.

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