Project Meraki: Food Revolution in Laos

A significant portion of farmers in the Paksong Village of Pakse, Laos make a honest living by selling coffee grown on the many coffee plantations found in the village. However, their profits have been declining due to the dry weather affecting crop yield and an overall drop in demand for their coffee. As a result many farmers struggle to support their families.

We aim to diversify their crop production by introducing alternative sustainable crops like hibiscus and ginger, and using our knowledge to help farmers in Paksong Village develop a value-added food product, with a focus on the by-products of food processing to reduce food waste. We firmly believe this will help them generate demand and provide another income source to help themselves get by.

Project Meraki is an annual overseas community involvement project designed by students under the Food Science and Technology programme under the National University of Singapore (NUS). We strive to improve the quality of life of people through the way we know best: food.

Donations will be channeled towards the research and development of value-added products and other necessary food-grade equipment for the production of these products and growing of crops.

A reference of our previous work done can be found here: http://news.nus.edu.sg/highlights/food-science-farming

We thank you very much for your kind donations to make this project a reality!