Agricultural Investment Plan 2011-2015.

The present Agricultural Investment Plan (AIP) for the five-year period 2011 to 2015 is based on the Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS) 2011 to 2020 and on the Agricultural Master Plan (AMP) 2011 to 2015. The ADS and the AMP have been prepared as separate documents which should be read before proceeding with the present AIP. The ADS provides the framework, the vision and the long term development goals of the Government of Laos (GoL) for the sustainable development of the sector, aiming at food and income security. The AMP is a roadmap for the implementation of the strategy in the coming five years. The AMP uses a Program Approach to structure the various measures and interventions. It thus resembles a conventional sub-sector approach to planning, which has the distinct advantage of a relatively easy clarification of implementation responsibilities among the respective MAF departments. On the other hand, the programme approach is based upon the sound evaluation of socio-economic and agro-ecological conditions, responding directly to local needs of the stakeholders in rural areas of Laos. In a bottom-up planning and consultation process, these region-specific conditions have been considered in the overall design of the Master Plan. It is hoped that the participation of the concerned stakeholders in the regions will maximize the effectiveness of resource allocation in the agriculture and forestry sector. The geographic area approach thus has to be added as a different perspective when it comes to the local and regional adaptation of the eight programs, which is the responsibility of decentralised authorities on provincial and districts levels.
The Agricultural Investment Plan (AIP) calls for the Cooperation of Development Partners and the Private Sector to enter partnerships for financing the implementation of the eight programs in the different regions of the country. The AIP simulates three Investment Scenarios for the coming five years, which are termed 1) realistic, 2) conservative and 3) optimistic. Breakdowns of investment budgets by Sources of Finance and by Implementation Programmes are presented for all three scenarios, while the additional breakdowns by Category of Measures (key measures, climate-related, other measures), by Region and by Lead Agency are presented for the realistic Scenario 1 only. Restructure agriculture and forestry research and extension functions aim to ensure that the results of Applied Research for Development are directly translated into the widespread dissemination of needs-based, gender-specific and area-specific as well as market-oriented extension packages.