With annual economic growth as high as eight percent, Lao PDR is  one of the fastest growing economies in the world, yet the country remains largely agrarian. According to the World Bank, the agriculture sector accounts for about 16.2 percent of the GDP and employs nearly 60 percentof the population.

According to MAF/FAO (2018) Agriculture Sector Damage and Loss Report, the nation-wide floods in 2018 that cost agriculture sector USD 27.3 million in economic loss and USD 43.7 million for recovery reiterated structural challenges in the sector and the need to accelerate the strengthening of resilient agriculture systems, that are sustainable for long term production and that does not damage the ecosystem as well as and livelihoods that are able to sustain shocks.  With 80 percent of the rural population are still subsistence farmers, stronger agriculture systems will be essential for the country to attain food and nutrition security, reduce poverty and achieve its vision for ‘’a developing country of upper middle income with innovative, green and sustainable economic growth” by 2030.

In this context, the threat of climate change has serious socio-economic implications, particularly among the population of smallholders, with a potential of increasing poverty leading to severe food insecurity amongst the vulnerable segments of the population. In addition, the cost of climate change adaptation could potentially hinder further economic development by decreasing productivity, change crop patterns and reducing efficiency of the numerous water management infrastructure’s that the government is developing to sustain food security. Smallholders especially are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to their lack of assets to buffers shocks and limited access to information, new technologies, finance and government services through which they can undertake adaptive actions. Small scale monocropping practices, absence of soil fertility management, lack of adapted crop varieties and resilient technologies, short slash and burn cycles, and reduced agricultural extension services capacities further exacerbate the risk of continued reduction of productivity. Precarious conditions in the rural areas will be further undermined by extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, as these are expected to increase. It is expected also that repeated shocks will aggravate existing social inequalities and the access to resources that will, in turn, contribute to displacement of people and changes in migration pattern and lack of agricultural production.

Lao PDR contribution to global GHG is minimal and 58% of its land area is classified as Forest but despite very little contribution the country remains severely impacted by the negative effects of climate change. Lao PDR ranks 48^th on the 2019 global Long-Term Climate Risk Index (Germanwatch, 2019). Climate Change may result in change in rainfall and temperatures that will have serious impact on the sustainable agricultural production resulting in impact on both quantity and quality of production, that will directly contribute to food insecurity and hunger.

In response to these climate change threats several measures need to be taken in order to sustain agricultural production and enable sustainable growth of the sector that is needed to reduce poverty, increase resilience and achieve food security.  First, and most importantly, in order for Lao PDR to continue growth in agriculture sector it requires to enhance its capacity to provide Agro climate services including ability to continually measure, monitor and model its hydrologic systems and temperature variations. The country’s agriculture is highly dependent on rainwater systems predominantly available the rainy season. These systems are in turn highly vulnerable to rainfall variations. The near certain continued rise in temperature, and the likely combined and synergistic effects that this will trigger, make critical the availability of timely, robust and accurate information upon which to base decisions and carryout food production systems. To support sustainable agriculture production a steady stream of agro-climatic information is necessary so that agricultural sector can be improved, and information needed to make important decisions is readily available in appropriate forms.

FAO in Lao PDR, with assistance from Global Environment Facility (GEF) is working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Strengthening Agro-climatic Monitoring and Information Systems (SAMIS) to improve adaptation to climate change and food security in LAO PDR”. The project focuses on agro climatic monitoring and analysis, land resources information management system (LRIMS) and national agro-ecological zoning (NAEZ) as well as knowledge management and dissemination. This tool will enable planners and decision makers to establish appropriate crop production schemes and adapted land allocation option over the next 20, 50 and 100 years. In addition, the project is working in short term decision making for farmers in the face of climate change. One of the latest products of this joint collaboration is Laos Climate Services for Agriculture (LaCSA) system has been developed, which provides provincial seasonal bulletin covering the entire country and, on a weekly basis, recommendations on productivity and pest and disease for rice in six pilot locations (Savannakhet, Champasack, Luang Namtha, Vientiane Province, Saravan and Xieng Kuan).

The project definitely contributes to the Lao PDR’s efforts to combat the impact of climate change but there is a need to continued efforts in making Agriculture Sector more resilient to Climate Change and to prepare all stakeholders including policy makers, agriculture service delivery mechanisms as well as the farmers to adapt to the risks of these changes.