Assessment of Cropland Changes in New Irrigation and Flood Embankment Infrastructure in Vientiane, Lao PDR

This brief assesses how high-resolution satellite imagery was used in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to map how irrigation schemes changed agricultural production and improved the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

It analyzes how rice cultivation altered between 2016 and 2020 and explains how ground data and household surveys were used to backup remote sensing information. Highlighting how small irrigation schemes allowed farmers to double-crop their land and boost overall rice production, it shows how spatial analysis can also be used to remotely assess the impact of drought and floods to quickly get assistance to those affected.

First published in ADB.org.