Every year during the harvest of wet season rice, insects such as the green leafhopper inflict damage on yields.
With this in mind, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is joining with local authorities in provinces around the country to prevent such outbreaks.
Savannakhet and Saravan provinces in particular have been affected by insect infestations, according to a report from the ministry.
Farmers around the country have now finished harvesting about 33,000 hectares of rice after beginning earlier this month.
This wet season the ministry expected Lao farmers to plant 645,000 hectares of rice, but they were able to plant 679,500 hectares, or about 105 percent of the target figure.
Some crops were damaged by insects, rodents and flooding, especially following tropical storm Ketsana which destroyed 19,400 hectares in the three provinces of Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu last month.
However, the government is trying to provide assistance for flood victims, and the ministry has supplied seeds for sweetcorn and other vegetables in order to boost food security.
Wet season rice in Saravan province has been hit by damage to more than 7,000 hectares thanks to Ketsana and the green leafhopper, according to a report from the provincial agriculture section.
Agriculture section technical staff member Ms Thevar Sidaduangchay said farmers were able to plant 68,990 hectares, slightly less than the target figure of 69,600 set by provincial authorities.
She said farmers were now harvesting, and had completed 19,200 of some 67,900 hectares of rice.
Both rice and commercial crops were severely affected by natural disasters, leaving several families with little or no food to eat nor produce to sell in the markets.
Many were forced to reduce the number and size of their meals and to spend time and effort finding food for the day instead of working in their fields, particularly farmers in Ta-oy, Toumlane and Samuoy ditrists.
Farmers in Xekong province are harvesting, and have cut 13 percent of the 7,570 hectares of rice planted.
The provincial plan had called for cultivation of 7,380 hectares, according to a report from provincial authorities.
However, the official figures do not take into account the area of rice destroyed by Ketsana, and they will have to wait until harvesting has been completed before updating the figure.
Both provinces are set to finish wet season rice harvesting by the end of next month.
