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

As a result, there is a shortage of labor in some agricultural activities especially
in peak season. Young people tend to work in the industrial and service sectors. It is
time to work out replacement of mechanization or automation.
5. Policy recommendations

5.1 Conclusion

In general, rice sector plays an integral role in generating livelihoods and
income for rural labor and significantly contributing to food security in Cambodia,
Lao PDR and Viet Nam. In the period 2016-2021, the production and trade have been
maintained steadily in all three countries, in which Vietnam has always been the country
with the largest output and export turnover while Lao PRD has been mainly produced
rice for domestic consumption, Cambodia has recently witnessed increasing growth
in production to serve better for export markets. All three countries have accessed to
a variety of markets, and China and Africa still are the largest buyers. These countries
have expanded export to many high-value and high-standard markets such as EU27,
USA, Japan, Korea, in which Cambodia’s and Laos PDR’s rice have better access to
these markets thanks to their high-quality rice products. In addition, intra-regional
trade between the three countries is also quite developed. Every year, Cambodia
and Laos PDR have exported large quantity of rice to Vietnam for processing and
supplying domestic consumers and exporting, and vice versa.
The world market is opening many export opportunities for all three countries
when the world’s food security and supply situation are affected negatively by
unpredicted risks (climate change, limited and competitive production resources,
epidemic developments) and external uncertainties such as the Covid-19 pandemic
and Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On the other hand, commitments of cutting tariffs
and increasing quotas under the framework of FTAs also open doors to access new
markets. At the same time, many high-value markets such as Kuwait, France, the
United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, and South Korea have increasing demands
of importing high-quality and safe rice products such as fragrant rice, glutinous rice,
organic rice from outside markets. Moreover, there is an increasing trend of world
consumers gradually shifting to prioritize the use of eco-friendly foods (low-carbon
emission). Therefore, all three countries need to have effective and sustainable
production strategies in order to maintain sustainable food security and promote
exports to high-value markets based on markets’ signals and opportunities.

5.2 Policy recommendations

Developing sustainable rice production in countries:

- Prioritizing support for farmers and businesses to transform to sustainable
production and high-quality standards, organic standards. Research and evaluate
supply-demand at national and world markets to develop suitable production
plans for each country.

- Facilitate and create a favorable mechanism to form big rice farmers and
cooperatives which can produce at a large scale and follow high quality.
- Providing vocational training programs in agricultural production according to
high- quality standards and organic agriculture.

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