Senior officials in the Lao government and concerned organizations and business enterprises are increasingly interested in policy formulation based on science and evidence-based research. Technical assistance and funding for policy research is increasingly linked to hard scientific evidence and demonstrated success in the belief that better policies will be formulated, and existing policy implementation gaps will be addressed. Decision-makers continue to seek solutions to persistent challenges to sustainable agricultural development that form the research agenda for the Policy Think Tank. These are: Agricultural technology issues, Farmer organization issues, Livestock technology and fishery issues, Agro-economic issues, Agrobiodiversity issues, Agricultural land issues, Forest management issues, and Nutrition agriculture sensitivity
The purpose of this research brief is to synthesize the f ndings of ten policy research studies conducted by NAFRI’s Policy Think Tank (PTT) research team between 2016 and 2020, and complementary research studies. The research was related to commercialisation of agricultural products in Lao PDR.
Tea plants are native to East Asia and evidence of tea consumption in China goes back to the 2nd century BC. In Laos, tea was presumably cultivated and traded as early as the 7th century (Earth Systems, 2016). Forest tea, which includes both ancient and wild tea1, has been grown in Northern Laos for centuries (Marseille, 1990). In the 1920s, the French brought tea from Vietnam to cultivate on the Bolaven plateau and recognized the quality of wild forest teas from Xieng Khouang (Pedersen et al., 2016).
The Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks in Myanmar (NARDT-Myanmar) was launched on 15 November 2019 in Yangon
Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks in Vietnam (NARDT-Vietnam) is an effort to build a flexible and integrated network that has more powerful influence on the agriculture sector and have great advantage to mainstream into current regional and country-level platforms and dialogues on agriculture and rural development policy.
The Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks in Cambodia (NARDT-Cambodia) was launched on 27 November 2019 in Phnom-penh.
The Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks in Mekong Sub-region was launched in the Myanmar by the Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) in Yangon on 15 November 2019
The Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks in Lao PDR (NARDT-Laos) was launched on 13 November 2019 in Vientiane