Sticky rice

Sticky rice is the main type of rice grown and consumed by the Lao of Laos and Northeast Thailand, areas which are considered to be the primary center of origin and domestication of Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.). It has been cultivated in this area for 4,000 years. An estimated 85% of Lao rice production is of this glutinous type.

The improved rice varieties that swept through Asia during the Green Revolution were non-glutinous types and Lao farmers rejected them in favour of their traditional sticky varieties. Gradually though, improved higher-yield strains of sticky rice became available from the Laotian National Rice Research Programme. By 1999, more than 70% of the area along the Mekong River Valley was of the newer strains.

External link

• Laos at the crossroads