The global rice crisis has driven up the price of rice to the extent that Laos has suspended rice exports this year to ensure food security for its citizens.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has issued notices concerning the measure to all provincial authorities, according to a senior official from the Domestic Trade Department.
Officials say that in the past rice in some provinces was exported in an uncontrolled manner. Subsequently, when a province faced a shortage of rice, it was forced to buy rice at a higher price from neighbouring countries. This situation led to fluctuations in the price of rice.
Xieng Khuang is one of the country's rice exporting provinces. As of May this year it has forbidden people and traders from exporting the crop, according to an announcement on the banning of rice exports issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Director of the Industry and Commerce Department Dr Khampao said last week the province has put up notices about the ban in every district and at every checkpoint after receiving the announcement from the ministry in March.
Xieng Khuang province is located about 400km northeast of Vientiane and last year shipped about 40,000 tonnes of rice across the border to Vietnam .
To ensure people do not face a rice shortage, the province is advising every district authority to monitor the amount of rice available in their area to ensure there is sufficient for consumption.
Dr Khampao said if a district had a surplus of rice it could sell it to the provincial Trade State Enterprise to be stored.
At present the province has 200 tonnes of paddy rice in stock, which will be put on the market when the price increases. Such measures help to maintain adequate supplies of rice and control the market price.
La st year th e province produced 98,386 tonnes of rice. On average each person in the province has 410kg of rice for annual consumption, according to the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department.
The province has plans in place to ensure sufficient rice for consumption in the future by increasing the number of rice fields under cultivation and boosting productivity.
The province currently has more than 21,000 ha of rice fields and plans to enlarge this area to 33,892 ha by 2010.
Director of the Agriculture and Forestry Department Bouasone Daravong confirmed last week that Xieng Khuang produced eno ugh rice to meet demand.
