Laos Allocates More Money for Rice Production Laos banks allocate more than 100 billion kips to give loan to farmers for rainy season rice-growing with the aim of producing enough rice for country's consumption and for export in 2008.
Laos Ministry of Finance said government has order state-owned banks, namely Agriculture Bank and Bank Supporting State Policies to jointly provide the capital of at least 102 billion kips to loan to farmers for this rice production season.
The Lao government believes that the biggest ever credit given to farmers this year will guarantee that rice production of this year will reach 2.87 million tons, that 2.2 million tons for domestic consumption and more than 600,000 tons for export.
Last year Laos can produce more than 2.7 million tons of rice, more than enough for consumption but the people in the remote areas still do not have enough rice to eat due to lack of infrastructure and high fuel cost.
Under this situation, Lao Ministry of Industry and Trade had banned all the rice export along the borders.
Listen to our Laos Today report for more details.