Even the phrase for eating rice is synonymous with eating food. Although eight out of every 10 Lao are rice farmers, rice farming is not a lucrative occupation.
Rice farming is also risky, with most farmers growing only one crop a year.
Because the crop depends on rainfall, too much water or too little water can mean a poor harvest-and hunger. Yields range from 2 to 2.5 tons per hectare, but less than 1 ton is common. Lao PDR, however, is in the midst of a renaissance in rice production. An ambitious national policy aims to increase production to 2.1 million tons by 2000 from the 1.7 million tons of rice produced in 1997, through a combination of improved yields and increased area under rice cultivation in the rainfed lowland and irrigated environments. Rice production is being discouraged in the fragile uplands to limit further environmental degradation.