Director of the province\u2019s Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr.\u00a0Somvang Khammavong, said the floods affected 145 villages in Kaleum, Dakcheung, Thataeng, and Lamam districts.\u00a0Forty irrigation systems and more than 1,000 hectares of rice fields suffered damage, with losses amounting to 17.9 billion kip.\u00a0 Mr. Somvang said agriculture technicians were providing advice to villagers\u00a0who were affected by the floods.\u00a0\u201cWe urgently need to get a good dry season crop in the ground and hope to plant rice on about 500 hectares, so we\u2019ve prepared several tonnes of\u00a0seed,\u201d he said.\u00a0Some rice fields would need time to recover from the floods and could not be planted out this dry season.\u00a0Villagers will be encouraged to grow a variety of vegetables on 770 hectares and commercial crops on 730 hectares depending on the land available in each district, Mr. Somvang said. Residents of Thataeng district will be encouraged to grow commercial crops, especially cabbage, Chinese cabbage, beans, and cucumber, while in\u00a0Lam district the focus will be on rice and vegetables.\u00a0Mr. Somvang said villagers would be asked to help repair irrigation systems\u00a0so they could supply water to crops at least temporarily this dry season.<\/p>\n