Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of arts (BA)
Department
Global Honors
First Advisor
Dr. Christine Stevens
Abstract
In just under half a century, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, often abbreviated as Lao PDR, has shifted from subsistence farming to commercialized production through both internal and external policies. This thesis will explore governmental actions via policies that have aided in this shift and its impact on environmental protection, rural communities, and sustainable development. By exploring Lao PDR’s government policies, it is noted that there is an emphasis on growing international trade relations, capital, and globalizing the agricultural sector at the expense of improving and maintaining environmental sustainability and the lives of rural communities who do not have direct access to the trade market. This is seen in Lao PDR’s decision to cut import tariffs on several countries, prioritizing the establishment and boosting of international free trade between ASEAN members, namely Thailand and China. By cutting the tariffs, it is increasing the risk of discriminatory practices regarding Lao produce for local Lao business owners who are not contracted with foreign companies, such as increasing the threshold of quality for Lao goods and crops or paying lower than the market price. Contract farming is another modern agricultural production method that rose in popularity throughout the 2000s. Since the 1980s, Laos’ gross value added per agricultural worker has more than quintupled in amount per the U.S. dollar due in large part to the efficacious free trade aim and popularization of contract farming in the landlocked country.
Based on the New Economic Mechanism, or NEM, framework, which encourages the growth of private businesses alongside governmental agencies, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry designates which cash crops have high export value. This information directly correlates with local, smallholder farmers, as well as the privately-owned businesses that manage the transportation and marketing of these cash crops, especially for provinces that share a border with neighboring ASEAN members. As the market demand grows, the local farmers will expand the land allotted for cash crops, rather than farming based on subsistence agriculture. Currently, there is a distinct lack of analysis regarding the effects of Lao PDR’s government policies on their agricultural sector. This thesis will work to provide the foundation between policy and commercialization as Lao PDR emerges as a strong power in Southeast Asia.
Recommended Citation
Phakoxay, Sengravi T., "The Role of Government Policies in the Lao People's Democratic Republic's Shift from Subsistence Farming to Commercial Agriculture" (2024). Global Honors Theses. 98.
https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/gh_theses/98
Included in
Agricultural Economics Commons, Asian History Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Food Security Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons
