The coffee bean harvesting season is starting, but plantation owners in southern Laos are struggling with a shortage of laborers due to low wages and high inflation in the country. Workers in Champassak province’s Paksong district are opting for better-paying jobs in Thailand or cassava farms instead of accepting the low wages offered for picking coffee beans. This has led to a shortage of workers, with coffee growers needing hundreds of laborers to harvest the beans.
Coffee is a crucial cash crop for many small-scale farmers in Laos and is the country’s third-largest agricultural export product. Most coffee farms are located in Champassak, Sekong, and Salavan provinces on the Bolaven Plateau, known as the country’s coffee heartland. However, the current high inflation rate in Laos, reaching nearly 25% in March, is driving laborers to seek better-paying jobs elsewhere.
To attract more laborers, some coffee farm owners have raised wages, increasing their fixed costs. For example, wages have been doubled to $15-20 a day to entice workers to pick the beans. The labor shortage in the coffee industry in Laos began in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts to find seasonal laborers have been challenging.
The coffee industry in Laos plays a significant role in the country’s agricultural exports, with agriculture minister Phet Phomphiphak reporting substantial earnings from coffee exports. Despite efforts to address the labor shortage, attracting workers to the coffee industry remains a challenge.
Translated by Phouvong for RFA Laos. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
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