Sector assistance program evaluation for the agriculture and natural resources sector in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

This paper evaluates the Asia Development Bank’s (ADB) role in the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) sector in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. It argues that policy-based operations supported by ADB were partly responsible for policy change in the country to promote investment and development. It finds that policy implementation was hindered by: regulatory uncertainty, unpredictability, lack of transparency, and other governance issues; a poor investment environmental corruption The study observed that:difficult access to rural credit can partly be solved if the Government takes a more relaxed approach to registering and allowing local as well as international organisations to serve as microfinance partnersclear links have not been established to address overriding constraints facing agriculture, and to overcome the impediments to commercialisation of agriculturetechnical assistance was affected by inadequate counterpart arrangements, weak absorptive capacity, and lack of institutional analysis. Technical assistance often produced recommendations that could not be implemented because of deficient analysis of their implications on requirements for resources, institutional mandates, and organisational development and managementThe study recommended the following:recognition of overriding factors and conditions that have significant bearing on sector’s performance (e.g., the investment climate, governance, corruption, markets, and opportunities for economic integration and regional cooperation)intensifying aid coordination to share experience and knowledge, find solutions to binding constraints facing the sector, and develop replicable approaches that can provide greater benefits countrywideincreasing economic integration with the regional and global economy to bring opportunities greater regional cooperation to narrow the gap between the Lao PDR and other regional economies, and to enable the country to strengthen its role as a land link at the centre of the Greater Mekong Subregion. This includes: improved physical infrastructuregreater migration and cross-border labour mobilityimproved trading conditions (reductions in tariffs and in non tariff barriers) increased foreign investment which can provide access to capital, technology, and market information