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

I. Background information

1. Rationale
This comparative study focuses on the assessment of regional rice sector
and market access. This study is essential for the region because of the important
role of the rice sector in the national economies but there have been problems with
sustainable and better market access for rice. Firstly, rice is the key sector of Viet Nam,
Lao PDR, and Cambodia for national food security. Rice is consumed by nearly 89
million of the total population in Viet Nam , accounting for approximately 67 percent
1
of the average total dietary energy consumption in Lao PDR . In Cambodia, rice is
2
the staple food and dominating crop in agriculture that contributed to around 20.5%
in GDP (National institute of Statistics, 2020) and created 3 million jobs for national
people (Cheu Ponleu, 2018). Secondly, this rice sector is an important livelihood
source of most poor and small farmers with scattered and fragmented farming land in
those countries. In the current progress, the countries aim to develop the rice sector
in the direction of concentrating and building large and homogeneous material areas
through stimulating land consolidation. That requires solutions to a create market and
develop value chains for smallholders. Thirdly, monitoring the supply and improving
market access, especially high-value markets, is a shared interest of the countries.
Rice contributes considerably to the export earnings of the countries. The rice export
market is divided into two groups: the low-value markets and the high-value rice
markets. The countries usually export rice to the low-value market segment and thus
compete by low price with competitors like India. Since consumers’ behavior tends
to change on food safety and taste, the demand for high-quality and special rice is
increasing. So, the rice sector has gradually transformed the production quality and
processing standard, towards monitoring the supply and improving market access,
especially high-value markets.

This study is expected to assess the consumption markets of rice products,
from the monitoring of rice production and processing towards sustainable and better
market access, especially focusing on high-value market access. Especially, in the
context of climate change that negatively affecting these countries’ rice cultivation
is seriously affected, the study also intends to share the policy experiences of the
countries, propose solutions to respond to and mitigate climate change to improve
rice value and productivity.

That is the first study at regional level which is synthesized and analyzed based
on the cooperation and technical contributions of Institute of Policy and Strategy for
Agriculture and Rural development (IPSARD -Viet Nam), the Cambodia Development
Research Institute (CDRI – Cambodia), and National Agriculture and Forestry Research
Institute (NAFRI – Laos). The national studies had been conducted individually in the
time of June 2021 – February 2022. However, in the process of the implementation,
the countries have been experiencing difficulties because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, the availability of information and data on rice sector (production, trade,

1 Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report: The Rice Situation in Viet Nam, 2012
2 FAO, 2013. Country Programming Framework For Lao PDR 2013-2015

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