Laos and the Resource Curse
- Asian Sentinel
- 21 October 2010
China and other nations are making Laos an industrial farm, to the detriment of its ecology
China and other nations are making Laos an industrial farm, to the detriment of its ecology
The government will allow foreign companies and individuals to invest in rice cultivation in Laos, Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh announced on Friday
Kuwait has provided US$350,000 to the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to study the suitability of extending irrigation so rice can be grown for export to Kuwait.
FIDP has launched a Cambodia and Laos fund, “an extended China play” that will focus largely on agriculture, seeking to benefit from China’s desire for food security.
The Lao side will consider a request by Mongolia to seek agricultural land of up to 10,000 hectares to produce rice and other crops. Also under consideration is a proposal by Mongolia to develop sheep farming in Laos.
Leopard Capital's second Cambodian fund is expected to continue investment in agriculture, as well as potentially including investment in Laos.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the GTZ have published a new study on FDI in land in developing countries.
Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Plc aims to invest about 15 billion baht over the next five years to double its sugarcane output in Thailand and continuously expand its presence in Cambodia and Laos.
That Korea is no longer "importing" this food that is being grown overseas implies that this land is effectively Korean. This amounts to agricultural imperialism.
China has now taken on a leading role in promoting modernization through zones of exception, not only in China but also outside it.
"Our proposition to the governments is that we can help them develop the infrastructure and develop the farmland and we will then take a share of the produce," says KCIC
The Korea Rural Community Corporation, under the Agriculture Ministry, said it is also in talks with other resource-rich countries about deals in exchange for support for the construction of agricultural infrastructure or farms. Among the negotiating partners mentioned were Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Senegal and Mongolia.
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