However, these figures need to be interpreted with caution. As an example one of the few studies in Laos that has looked at the discrepancies between reported land projects versus the real implementation shows that only 57 percent of the total area conceded for coffee plantations was actually used (Schönweger and Messerli 2015). Likewise, according to reporters of the Vientiane Times: “some 500 to 600 hectares of rubber plantation in Sing district, (in the Luang Namtha province) are currently being destroyed by the owners of the plantations due to the slump in prices” (Vientiane Times 2015 April, 2015) . Hence, statistics on plantation coverage may be unreliable, as the situation may be changing rapidly with inaccurate monitoring (see also Kröger (2014) and Scoones et al. (2013)).