SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

8 - Agriculture3.3 Rice productionRice cultivation is the most important agricultural activity in the LMB countries. As shown in thetables below, rice production has increased greatly over the past decade: by 81 percent between1993 and 2000 in Cambodia; by 38 percent between 1990 and 1999 in Lao PDR; by 33 percentbetween 1994 and 2001 in Northeast Thailand; and by 27 percent between 1995 and 1999 in thedelta and Central Highlands in Viet Nam. These increases are due to the use of higher yieldingseed varieties, increased irrigation and larger areas under cultivation. Yields vary greatly acrossthe LMB, depending upon location, irrigation, and season. Spring paddy in the Mekong Basinregion of Viet Nam yields five tonnes per hectare, while the figure is only 1.55 for unirrigatedupland rice in Lao PDR. However, over the basin as a whole, rice production remains inefficientand of comparatively little economic value to farmers, making sustainable resource managementunlikely. 42 The average yield for the entire area is 2.75 tonnes/ha, whereas the average for theAsia-Pacific region in 2000 was 3.9 tonnes/ha. 43Rice production in Cambodia has increasedin efficiency since the early 1990s, due toongoing post-war rehabilitation andinfrastructure reconstruction. While total wetseason cultivated area has increased duringthis period from less than 1.7 million ha in1993 to 1.9 million ha in 2000, this area isstill considerably less than the 2.47 million hadevoted to rice growing in the late 1960s. 44Furthermore, yields continue to lag behindthose of neighbouring Viet Nam andThailand, mainly as a result of lower qualityagricultural inputs and management systems.The dominant production system is rainfedlowland rice, which is concentrated near theMekong, Bassac, and Tonle Sap Rivers. 45Rice yields are generally low in the basin due tolack of inputs such as fertilisers, pesticidesand improved seedDeepwater and floating rice is also found around the shores of the Tonle Sap River and the GreatLake, as well as the inundated areas of the Mekong and the Bassac near Viet Nam. There is alsosmall-scale dry land rice production in hilly areas of the country. 46Rice is the dominant crop in Lao PDR, covering approximately 600,000 ha or 80 percent of the totalcropped area. 47 There are major disparities in productivity across the country, with yield in irrigatedareas above 4 tonnes/ha, compared with 1.5tonnes/ha for rice grown in upland areas.While the harvested area for lowland ricehas been on the increase, it has becomesmaller in the upland areas, due to thegovernment’s attempts to discourageshifting cultivation.Over 40 percent of the basin’s land area isdevoted to agricultureOver 80 percent of the cultivated area inNortheast Thailand is used for growing riceor a mix of rice and upland crops. Localvarieties of drought-resistant glutinous riceare generally used, and these tend to havelow yields and poor responses to fertiliser155