Core area “Transformation of agricultural and food systems” Infrastructure development and improvement of land management

    In the rural areas of Laos – which are home to more than 60 per cent of the population – infrastructure in the areas of transport, water, electricity and telecommunications is not very developed. Lao-German development cooperation is helping to improve living conditions, particularly in the difficult-to-access highland regions.

    View of Ban Kor village in Laos

    Many mountain villages are inaccessible during the rainy season, which lasts for months. Some have no transport links at all, even in the dry season. As a result, economic potential cannot be tapped and social inclusion cannot develop in these regions, and people remain poor. One approach of Germany's cooperation with Laos is to improve roads and bridges, giving people year-round reliable access to markets, schools and health facilities.


    Land management

    Rice cultivation in Laos

    Germany is also working to ensure better land management and secure tenure for smallholders. The local population is actively involved in drawing up village development and land use plans. In order to enhance legal certainty, support is being provided to government authorities as they systematically survey, register and title communal plots of land.

    At the community, province and national levels, Germany is working with government personnel to enable them to apply land use planning instruments and methods that facilitate the regulation of natural resource use and the resolution or prevention of conflicts over land and resources.

    In the field of responsible land policy, Laos is also benefitting from being included in two multi-country Technical Cooperation projects.

    As at: 15/02/2023