Kim Suzanne Alexander

The participation of youth in agricultural entrepreneurship (agripreneurship) is beneficial for the sustainable development of agrarian societies that are transitioning towards the commercialization of agriculture. Accordingly, we investigated the phenomena that motivate practicing young, small- and medium-scale agripreneurs to pursue their careers, using the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) as a case study. To achieve this, we applied narrative inquiry techniques to the accounts of 74 young Laotian agripreneurs regarding their entry into agripreneurship. This enabled us to identify and describe common and influential paradigms that were subsequently interpreted from the perspective of entrepreneurship and behavioral studies of career decision making to explain the influence of motivations on the young agripreneurs. Our study has shown that despite the characteristics that set agripreneurship in Laos apart from entrepreneurship in general, commonly identified typologies of entrepreneurial motivation, particularly income, extrinsic benefits and emotional paradigms also motivate Lao youth to become agripreneurs. The application of narrative inquiry has revealed the emphasis some practicing agripreneurs in Laos place on the attainability of their career, which resulted in its practice by both opportunity-driven and necessity-driven entrepreneurs, with implications for the sustainable development of other countries in transition to commercial agriculture.

Globally, the COVID-19 (SARSCoV-2) pandemic has affected human health and the flow of goods and services in many sectors, with significant social and economic consequences and repercussions. COVID-19 lockdowns have disrupted food systems; impacting farmers, food producers, traders and consumers. Using a food system approach, disruptions to and the resilience of vegetable food production and trade was analysed. Representatives of traditional farming systems in Lao PDR producing and trading vegetables were involved. Over 350 farmers, 60 wholesalers, 50 retailers and 70 consumers were surveyed to determine the disruptions to vegetable supplies in terms of quantities traded, prices and income fluctuations. Findings revealed significant impacts on trading capacity and consequent reductions in incomes, prices, purchases, transport and sales of produce. However, livelihoods resumed as soon as the lockdown lifted. Traditionally, vegetable production and trading are a woman's tasks and hence women were the most affected by the disruptions. With trading contractions, the stability of the food supply was threatened, but only temporarily, indicating that a traditional, resilient farming system based on lower population densities, lower input requirements and lower productivity could adapt to novel disruptions in the short term.