Farmers in Laos have won a bitter fight with China over Beijing’s use of food safety rules to block the importation of Laotian farm products. Beijing has agreed to allow the importation of Laotian bananas, cassava, sweet corn and watermelon. Laotian farmers have been complaining for years that the ban has given an unfair advantage to Chinese traders. The farmers have all too often been faced with the choice of selling at reduced prices to Chinese investors operating food businesses in Laos, or to Chinese traders who have ways of circumventing the restrictions and getting the produce into China.
