More than 1.5m people still living in poverty

More than 1.5 million people in Laos are still living below the poverty line, according to findings from the latest in-depth survey conducted by the National Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Reduction.

Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Onneua Phommachanh spoke to the National Assembly last week about the government's efforts to alleviate poverty, as well as challenges faced over the past year.

The survey, conducted over 2007 and 2008, found about 1.5 million people were living under the poverty line, equivalent to 27.1 percent of the country's population.

Of the total, 195,709 people lived in rural areas while the remainder lived in urban areas.

This kind of in-depth survey is conducted once every five years, and attempts to cover every household in the country.

It is a significant logistical task that requires revisiting households to check on the progress of their situation. Collecting and tabulating the findings of such a survey takes a significant amount of time.

In addition, a sample of households is also surveyed annually in order to check year-on-year progress.

Mr Onneua said the north had the highest percentage of poor households, covering 51 percent, followed by the central region at 32 percent, with 17 percent in the south.

Poverty Reduction Fund Executive Director Sivixay Saysanavongphet said poverty in Laos was the result of a combination of factors including a low standard of education, geographical difficulties, lack of infrastructure and lack of opportunity to access development.

About 80 percent of Lao people rely on agricultural production, with crops often affected by irregular rainfall and pestilence.

The government has set a plan to reduce basic poverty by 2010 and graduate from the UN's least developed nation status by 2020.

This is a major challenge as villages struggle to alleviate poverty at a time of economic hardship.

Mr Sivixay said there were several funds aimed at supporting poverty-alleviation efforts, but it was important to ensure they were harmonised and operated in a systematic fashion.

Some projects had used a lot of money for administration instead of poverty reduction activities, he said.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Bounthavy Sisouphanthong, the government had approved 41.7 billion kip for village development funds in the 47 poorest districts to make credit available at a low interest rate.

The government has also borrowed 166.8 billion kip from the World Bank for poverty reduction, to undertake projects in 19 of these districts.

These focus on the development of infrastructure, human resources and income-earning activities for villagers.

National Assembly Vice President Dr Xaysomphone Phomvihane said the management of funds for poverty reduction was not always cohesive, which affected transparency.

“It's true the money borrowed is for poverty reduction, but all the money belongs to the nation and everyone should make sure it is managed efficiently,” he said.

NA members noted that infrastructure development was mostly targeted at rural flatland areas.

Many thought more should be done in mountainous areas, including those that were revolutionary strongholds during the fight for liberation.

Members also said that while villagers actively produced crops, assistance from the government was not always enough to find markets for their produce.  

By Somsack Pongkhao
Vientianetimes