Fruits of Spoil: Laos’ Forests Disappearing As Fruit Farms Flourish

Growing bananas and durians has become a booming investment trend in Southeast Asia’s agricultural sector, driven by surging demand from the Chinese market. Laos is no exception.

Constrained by limited economic and production capacity, Laos has entered the game as a provider of land and labor, while in return, capital and agricultural technology flow in from China and Viet Nam.

With low labor and land-lease costs — rental agreements can extend to 50 years or longer—as well as fertile soils ideal for tropical fruits, southern Laos has drawn in investors to set up vast banana and durian plantations. This hunger for fruit cultivation has intensified land grabbing, which is now a major force behind the country’s alarming rates of deforestation.

Based on Planet Labs’ satellite imagery, Mekong Eye and the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) discovered various Chinese- and Vietnamese-owned plantations on deforested land, and compared them with on-the-ground observations, local testimonials, social media posts, and public documents. Many of these plantations are nestled near southern Laos’ biodiverse primary forests, including Dong Hua Sao and Xe Pian—two of the country’s most important National Biodiversity Conservation Areas and key parts of a global eco-region—which already face threats from logging and cassava farming.

Most of the owners began their businesses in the area by producing bananas, with durian being a more recent addition.

The reporting was produced with support from RIN and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network as part of the Ground Truths collaborative reporting project on soils.