USSR
Although large numbers of advisers from the socialist block countries (particularly
Russia) were present in Laos during the late 1970s and 1980s, these advisers and related
assistance programs had little influence on agricultural production. The advisers
did undertake serious soil surveys and soil-mapping exercises during this time, the
results of which were later used for the production of more standardized USDA-type
soil maps that, in turn, were used for land-use planning purposes in the late 1990s. In
1982-84, in collaboration with USSR experts, a number of field trials were undertaken
on rice, focusing on yield responses to fertilizer inputs. These studies were part of the
soils classification mapping exercises.