In Laos 🇱🇦, farmers and herders sell their buffaloes 🐃 when they have to pay hospital bills, finance a wedding or compensate for a poor rice harvest 🌾. But today these animals suffer from malnutrition and, weakened, become ill and are decimated by epidemics. An innovative diet could help them.
Learn more about what is happening in Laos with ARTE.tv Documentaries in Spanish
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ARTE.tv Documentaries 📺 is ARTE's YouTube channel in Spanish 🇪🇸 with in-depth documentaries and research and current affairs reports on geopolitics, economy, society, culture, science and the environment. Every day we release new programs about the topics that move the world 🌎.
Do you want more ART content? 👉 Visit our streaming platform in Spanish: ARTE in Spanish https://www.arte.tv/es/ and remember that we have an app to watch documentaries on your smart TV 📺 and other devices: https://play.google. com/store/apps/de...AUSTRALIAN developed feed supplements could have big implications for the wider livestock industry, research coming out of South East Asia shows.
The new research reveals the medicated molasses blocks - designed for tropical conditions including northern Australia - are driving both increased productivity and as a consequence, have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On this episode, we talk to Jo Smith about Ock Pop Tok, the textile workshop and visitor center she and her Lao partner, Veomanee Douangdala, established there over a decade ago, and why it’s important to preserve traditional crafts from the area. Next up is a discussion with Susie Martin, the Australian expat who co-founded the Laos Buffalo Dairy, which not only produces delicious cheeses and ice creams for restaurants in town, but does so with a sustainable business model that helps local farmers breed and care for their animals. Finally, co-founder Michael Vogler tells us why they embrace a no-riding approach on the treks they offer at MandaLao Elephant Conservation.
“Susie Martin said, “This helps farmers earn extra income and provides them with milk for their families and communities. This innovative initiative will be a benefit and will help address the rising concerns of low nutrition rates among Cambodian children.”
“To achieve this, we need to introduce buffalo milk to the market, partnering with hotels and restaurants currently importing buffalo dairy products,” Martin added.
Have you ever visited a city and thought, I just want to stay here as long as possible?
Luang Prabang in Laos is one such city. It has such a cool and laid-back feel and ambience and you can easily spend your days doing nothing but sitting along the Mekong or Nam Kahn rivers and staring at the natural beauty that envelopes this part of Laos. Appropriately referred to as heaven on earth, this UNESCO Heritage listed site is also by far the hippest place in Laos. The cool area of town is towards the peninsula end where the two rivers meet. For over 200 years Luang Prabang was the capital of Laos, the former Royal Palace is today the Luang Prabang national museum, make sure that you head out the back to the garage which houses some of the funkiest American cars from between 1950’s and 1970’s. Amongst the cars on display are a rickety Citroen DS and a priceless rare wing-edged 1958 Edsel Citation.
The Laos Buffalo Dairy, a sustainable farm aimed at improving the welfare and nutrition of Luang Prabang's rural population, is the perfect place to stop for a scoop of gelato to cool down after a day of adventures.
Tourism and hospitality is not only about hotels, airlines and travel agents – it is about the myriad of small businesses that support the industry, adding to the variety and local colour in each destination. Rachel O’Shea and Susie Martin, founders of the Laos Buffalo Dairy, are examples of just that.
This time, we would like to report about the "Online Pro Bono" program. This is a program which participants allocate about 20% of their work time to tackle social issues in Asia remotely from Japan.
Moemi and Maya who are working in Astellas Pharma Inc., joined this program for three months from December 2020. The recipient organization was Laos Buffalo Dairy (LBD), which is a social enterprise working to improve the livelihood of small farmers in rural Laos.
“We want to utilize our skills and take on challenges to tackle social issues in Laos society, without visiting on site”
Sustainable tourism practitioner Ameer Virani is offering tourists the chance to spread the joys of travel to underprivileged children in the South-east Asian countries they visit with innovative social project, Share The Wonder.
Virani first came up with the idea of organising fun, educational day trips for poverty-stricken youngsters living in the region while working for EXO Myanmar three years ago.
“Originally, it was my passion for travel and the desire to share that with people in the countries I was promoting,” he said. “I was selling these great packages, and at the same time, thinking that travel is such a privilege. You get to meet new people and learn new things – something every young person should have the opportunity to do.”
Tour operators he spoke with said they often seek sustainable avenues to give back in the countries they sold. However, finding truly beneficial projects can be tough. Additionally, NGOs operating in the countries noted they lack the funds or time to organise trips for the children they work with.
“This is an interesting way for travellers to support children in the countries they’re visiting without having to interact with them, which I don’t think is the right way to go about it,” noted Virani. “It also still feels like it’s an experience as you’re not just donating directly to an NGO, but to a travel project that’s allowing young kids to enjoy some of the activities tourists themselves might be doing on their trip.”
After carefully selecting partner NGOs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to put forward children to benefit from trips, Virani teamed up with EXO Foundation. It works as a fundraising and logistic partner, helping to organise trips on the ground.
In December, Share The Wonder officially launched. To date, it has operated trips in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
“One of the key things is we don’t want to organise run-of-the-mill trips just to get the kids out for the day; we really want to create special experiences,” said Virani. “We put a lot of time into curating each itinerary depending on each NGO and their needs.”
For example, in Laos, Share The Wonder works with Luang Prabang Special Education School, who said its deaf and mute students would benefit from a visit to the nearby Laos Buffalo Dairy. The award-winning social enterprise was able to tailor-make a trip around their specific needs.
While launching mid-Covid has not been ideal, Virani noted it does present opportunities. “Now, a lot of people are talking about domestic travel, flying less in the future and how to travel more sustainably. People are thinking more about how they can do good when they start travelling again.”
In the short-term, Virani plans to organise one trip a month. In the long-term, he hopes to increase this to one monthly trip for each destination. He is currently looking for tour operators and other industry-related businesses to partner with. One trip costs US$25, with partner businesses offering clients the chance to donate or “add-on” the fee to their travels. “It’s like adding a fee for carbon offsetting when you fly somewhere,” Virani said.
All donors receive detailed reports on the trip they have helped finance.
“It’s important young people have the opportunity to learn about and appreciate their own culture,” said Virani. “People travel half way across the world to experience them and that opportunity should be passed on.”
For more information, visit https://www.sharethewonder.org/.
An exciting Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) partnership between Australian Agribusiness Four Seasons (4S), the University of Sydney and the Australian Government has led to a new carbon credit start-up with benefits for both smallholder farmers and the environment. The new business AgCoTechhas been set-up by 4S to distributes medicated livestock feed blocks in return for carbon offset credits. The establishment of the new enterprise demonstrates the value of cross sector partnerships to test, adapt and innovate inclusive business models.
Not so long ago, a commercial dairy industry in Laos was virtually non-existent. In a country with more than 700,000 buffalo and where 35 per centof children are chronically malnourished, a thriving dairy sector could provide both family income and essential nutritional benefits. The question was: where to start?
Building a Dairy Sector in Laos from the Ground Up
Recognising the market potential, Susie Martin established Laos Buffalo Dairy (LBD) in Laos’s northern Luang Prabang region in 2016. Since launching, LBD has improved buffalo health, influenced dietary practices, and made buffalo dairies a viable commercial operation for smallholder farmers – including rural women. Farmers rent their female buffalo to the dairy for milking.
“The biggest challenge we had in the beginning was gaining the trust of the farmers,” says Martin, LBD Co-founder and entrepreneur. “We needed to demonstrate how better care could benefit their buffalo and their family income. Farmers were reluctant to rent us their pregnant buffalo. With a wet season and torrential downpours, reaching and transporting buffalo that farmers had agreed to rent us was – and remains – a huge challenge.”
Through a partnership established by the Australian Government’s Business Partnerships Platform (BPP), an initiative supporting inclusive businesses to create both development impact and sustainable commercial returns, LBD has scaled up operations. The partnership brings together LBD, the Northern Agriculture College, the Luang Prabang Provincial Health Department, and the Australian Government to reach more remote villages, expand the network of farmers and further promote the benefits of buffalo milk.
According to Martin, the dairy is driving positive change for Laos communities. “The most significant change is in the attitudes of the farmers with whom we work,” she says. “With the trust that [we] developed, we noticed that farmers were prepared to go further and learn about how they could milk their own buffalo and use the milk to help their children become healthier.”
But COVID-19 has brought on its own new challenges for LBD. As a tourism-dependent enterprise, the dairy sells much of its produce to local resorts and has been forced to adapt and adjust its model, including increased focus on international export markets such as Japan and Europe. The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been flexible and responsive to the business needs, and Martin remains hopeful. “We have appreciated the collaborative approach and navigating challenges together. We have big plans and hope to reach many more communities.”
