LAO PDR is a land-locked country (area 236,803 Sq km; population estimated at 4.4 million), with 80 % area being mountainous and 40 % area is covered with forests. Except the populous flat areas mostly located along the river Mekong, the communication between the scattered, sparsely populated and isolated rural population is very difficult. At the same time the cultivable aquatic resources even in the mountainous areas are enormous in potential and provide ideally located sites for fish protein production for rural population in particular to improve their diet and economy. In view of the difficult terrain and lack of proper access roads to these remote areas on one hand and extremely meagre qualified and trained manpower resources in aquaculture on the other hand, the approach to develop the capabilities of the farmers themselves as target progressive farmers termed as the ‘model farmer’ approach is highly pragmatic and is in line with the national policy. These ‘model farmers’ would serve as village-level extensionists or ‘change agents’.
From the above brief account it is clear that at present there is no functional aquaculture network existing in the country either at central or provincial levels. The strategy for setting up an initial extension network is based on training of the district/sub-district level extensionists in the field while training the target farmers in different fish farming systems by setting up demonstration sites and utilizing the available trained manpower at central and provincial levels. The UNDP funded and FAO executed project LAO/89/003 which started in April 1992 (duration 4 years and budget US $ 1,019,467) is the first project in the country which aims at establishment of aquaculture extension network in selected target districts/villages in 10 provinces covering different agro-climatic zones and the farmers belonging to varying socio-economic strata.
