FDI in land and the need to establish a concession inventory : the case of Lao PDR
Schoenweger, Oliver
The Lao Peoplees Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia with a total area of 236,800 km2. Except for the alluvial plains of the Mekong valley below the 200 meter elevation, over 80% of the country is mountainous, of which a little over half has an elevation between 1,000 and 2,000 meters with sub-tropical temperatures. Though Lao PDR has developed a lot in the last decade with economic growth rates of 7.8% in 2007 and 7.2% in 2008, the country is still one of the poorest in the region and counts among the Least Developed Countries (LDC). The GDP per capita (at PPP) increased in 2008 to 2,387 USD per year, but 76.8% of the population live on less than 2 USD per day (2002) and 19% suffer from hunger. Lao PDR claims to be a food self-sufficient country (in terms of rice production), but production is not regionally balanced and in 47 districts, food aid was given in 2008 to avoid hunger and famine. Lao PDR is divided into 16 provinces and one municipality. Each province is further subdivided into districts. 6.7 million people live in the country, i.e. on average 27 people live per km2. The underdeveloped infrastructure is matched by a lack of well educated people - only 61.5% of school children reach the last grade of primary school. This creates a bottleneck for further investments in the development of rural areas. Nearly 80% (2005) of the population work in the agricultural sector contributing only 42% to the total GDP. Families mainly practice subsistence farming and do not produce for the market. In total 1.25 million ha are cultivated with rice being the main staple food growing on 781,000 ha and representing 68% of the cultivated area. It is estimated that on average an agricultural household has 0.5 3 ha for its private use, in addition to village land and communal forest. Forests are an important source of income.
Event: Annual Bank Conference on Land Policy and Administration
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