The Knowledge Hub on Agroecology in Southeast Asia

The Regional Hub for Agroecology in the Mekong

The ALISEA Knowledge Hub is the central platform for the agroecological transition in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. We provide a collaborative online library and a network of stakeholders dedicated to climate-resilient farming and food security across the region. Explore our technical resources and regional expertise to support sustainable agriculture from Vientiane to Hanoi.

Latest Insights

Technical Leaflet: Compost Fertilizer Recipe

This compost acts as a superfood for your garden, building rich, living soil that supports healthy plant growth. It gradually releases essential nutrients, improves soil structure for easier root development, and retains moisture reducing the need for frequent watering. Compost also introduces beneficial microbes that can help protect plants from disease and enhance nutrient uptake, resulting in stronger and more resilient plants.

Soil health

Input reduction and recycling

Transitioning to Organic Sesame through Agroecology and Market Linkages in Preah Vihear, Cambodia

This practice brief presents a pilot initiative supporting smallholder farmers in Preah Vihear to transition from conventional to organic sesame production through agroecological practices and cooperative-based market linkages. The model combines technical training, internal control systems, and collective marketing to improve soil health, reduce chemical inputs, and strengthen farmers’ access to stable and higher-value markets.

Collaboration

Biodiversity

Economy and income

Soil health

Sustainable food system

Input reduction and recycling

Improving Market Access for Organic Vegetable Farmers in Pek District, Xiengkhouang Province

This practice focuses on strengthening market access for organic vegetable farmers in Pek District, Xiengkhouang Province, Lao PDR. Through collaboration between PDDA and POCA, agroecological capacity building was combined with structured buyer engagement to better align production with market demand. The experience highlights how improved market linkages can enhance income stability while supporting the continued development of organic farming systems.

Natural resources governance

Collaboration

Economy and income

Soil health

Sustainable food system

Input reduction and recycling

Improving Market Access for Organic Vegetable Farmers in Pek District, Xiengkhouang Province

This practice focuses on strengthening market access for organic vegetable farmers in Pek District, Xiengkhouang Province, Lao PDR. Through collaboration between PDDA and POCA, agroecological capacity building was combined with structured buyer engagement to better align production with market demand. The experience highlights how improved market linkages can enhance income stability while supporting the continued development of organic farming systems.

Natural resources governance

Collaboration

Economy and income

Soil health

Sustainable food system

Input reduction and recycling

All Insights

Latest Library Entries

Advancing the next-generation of global food system scenarios: a critical review of existing narratives

The recent global crises suggest that historic and current trends in the food system become less relevant when frequently disrupted by unexpected events, such as trade conflicts, the rise of inward-looking, right-wing governments, or another global pandemic. In the face of food insecurity, the foresight community is more strongly emphasizing the need to consider various plausible scenarios when preparing critical strategies within and around the intricate global food system. As scenarios have been developed for many decades, two questions arise: how is the food system community engaging in scenario planning, particularly given the urgent need for transformation coupled with current poly-crisis; and what is needed to enhance the process of scenario planning for the global food system? Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically review existing scenarios on global food systems, published by key organizations and authors in the last eight years, to identify common themes of plausible food system futures, the key uncertainties and emerging radical ideas. The paper is based on an inductive clustering framework that offers a method for evaluating the potential outcomes of varying governance structures and policy actions within scenario clusters across key dimensions—health and nutrition, livelihoods and equity, and climate and environment. The critical analysis of the scenario clusters leads to two important findings: (i) megatrends such as shifting demography, technology and consumption patterns are often central in reviewed scenario exercises, and radical notions have not significantly evolved but have taken on new dimensions; and (ii) while factors like consumption patterns, technology, and investment influence food systems significantly, governance structures play a crucial role in shaping the environment for these factors to interact. This underscores the importance of adaptive policymaking in responding to evolving uncertainties. This study provides a strong foundation for designing a next-generation global food system scenario exercise. It calls for a more ambitious, inclusive, and innovative approach for delving into a broader range of uncertainties, radical forces of change and prioritizing the interrogation of drivers related to geopolitical tensions, technological innovations, governance, social influences, and social inequalities.

Designing with non-humans for agricultural systems transformation: An interdisciplinary review and framework for reflection

In response to growing concern over agriculture's contribution to climate and ecological crises, recent definitions of sustainable food systems have expanded beyond productivity to emphasize interconnected ecological and social dimensions. Responding to this challenge, agricultural system design scholars have moved beyond a focus on merely increasing productivity, supply, and profitability, to include goals such as animal welfare and ecological health. However, this selection often fails to move beyond anthropocentric needs and values. For design to be transformative, addressing who can participate in design and how participating actors relate to each other is critical. Notably, non-humans, which are foundational to agricultural systems, are largely overlooked as actors to be involved in design processes.

Technical Leaflet: Compost Fertilizer Recipe

This compost acts as a superfood for your garden, building rich, living soil that supports healthy plant growth. It gradually releases essential nutrients, improves soil structure for easier root development, and retains moisture reducing the need for frequent watering. Compost also introduces beneficial microbes that can help protect plants from disease and enhance nutrient uptake, resulting in stronger and more resilient plants.

The Role of Government Policies in the Lao People's Democratic Republic's Shift from Subsistence Farming to Commercial Agriculture

In just under half a century, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, often abbreviated as Lao PDR, has shifted from subsistence farming to commercialized production through both internal and external policies. This thesis will explore governmental actions via policies that have aided in this shift and its impact on environmental protection, rural communities, and sustainable development. By exploring Lao PDR’s government policies, it is noted that there is an emphasis on growing international trade relations, capital, and globalizing the agricultural sector at the expense of improving and maintaining environmental sustainability and the lives of rural communities who do not have direct access to the trade market. This is seen in Lao PDR’s decision to cut import tariffs on several countries, prioritizing the establishment and boosting of international free trade between ASEAN members, namely Thailand and China. By cutting the tariffs, it is increasing the risk of discriminatory practices regarding Lao produce for local Lao business owners who are not contracted with foreign companies, such as increasing the threshold of quality for Lao goods and crops or paying lower than the market price. Contract farming is another modern agricultural production method that rose in popularity throughout the 2000s. Since the 1980s, Laos’ gross value added per agricultural worker has more than quintupled in amount per the U.S. dollar due in large part to the efficacious free trade aim and popularization of contract farming in the landlocked country. Based on the New Economic Mechanism, or NEM, framework, which encourages the growth of private businesses alongside governmental agencies, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry designates which cash crops have high export value. This information directly correlates with local, smallholder farmers, as well as the privately-owned businesses that manage the transportation and marketing of these cash crops, especially for provinces that share a border with neighboring ASEAN members. As the market demand grows, the local farmers will expand the land allotted for cash crops, rather than farming based on subsistence agriculture. Currently, there is a distinct lack of analysis regarding the effects of Lao PDR’s government policies on their agricultural sector. This thesis will work to provide the foundation between policy and commercialization as Lao PDR emerges as a strong power in Southeast Asia.

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