On 31 July – 1 August 2023, the AFSIS Secretariat in collaboration with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) of Lao PDR conducted the Workshop for the demonstration of INAHOR utilization for 2023 Rainy Season Rice in Vang Vieng, Lao PDR.

In the opening session, it was honored by Dr. Soulaphone Inthavong, Deputy Director General of the Department of Planning and Cooperation, MAF of Lao PDR, to deliver the opening remark. While the representatives of the AFSIS Secretariat were Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, AFSIS Manager, and Mr. Miyake Yasuhiro, AFSIS Japanese Expert, who attended the aforesaid workshop.

The workshop was under the rice crop monitoring project (INAHOR activity) in the Asia Pacific Regional Space Forum (APRSAF) Space Applications for Environment (SAFE) initiative to promote rice planted area estimation using space-based technologies, with the objective to demonstrate the INAHOR utilization and develop the training data in Lao PDR for the whole country in 2023. The participants were officials from the Center for Agricultural Statistics (CAS), and the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) of Lao PDR.

During the workshop, there was a session for making training data for 2023 rainy season rice which grid points in country areas will be judged on Google Earth Pro in consultation with the training tutors, CAS staff, and provincial staff. The INAHOR analysis results from this project will be provided to CAS for further implementation.

In addition, all outputs of this workshop will be implemented with the AFSIS project entitled “Project for Strengthening ASEAN Food Security Information System (AFSIS) Function for Emergency" or SAFER project under its activity “Developing crop area estimation method using satellite image” which AFSIS also plans to conduct the training workshop related to INHOR activity this year.