Xieng Khouang Agricultural Development Project - Phase II

Xieng Khouang Agricultural Development Project - Phase II

Xieng Khouang is one of the poorest provinces in the country. Farming centres on livestock and the cultivation of rice and other crops, including maize, but productivity is generally low. Landholdings are small, and nearly 60 per cent of the project area is too steep to be farmed. In addition, some areas of productive land are still strewn with unexploded land mines. Many of the poorer households are located in remote areas without access to markets, roads, irrigation facilities and financial services. Less than 10 per cent of villages in the province have access to safe drinking water, and cholera and dysentery are common.

Building on the achievements of the first phase of the Xieng Khouang Agricultural Development Project, the second phase of the initiative set out to increase household incomes and food security, and to create alternatives to opium poppy cultivation. The project targeted the 83 per cent of the province's population who are poor and who lack food sufficiency, mainly ethnic groups and households cultivating less than 0.12 ha.

Specific project activities included:

• developing irrigation, crop and livestock production
• providing savings and credit services
• providing clean drinking water supplies
• constructing rural access roads
• promoting local self-help savings groups and water users’ groups

Source: IFAD