As rising economic growth spurred demand for personal loans, Prasac, Cambodia’s biggest microfinance institution (MFI), provided $106 million in loans between March, 2012 and March, 2013, an increase of 66 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier.  “Loans [were] mainly used for service ...

Global food prices fell 1 per cent or two points in the October 2012 Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Food Price Index released on October 7, 2012. The index averaged 213 points, compared to September’s revised level of 215 points. According to the FAO, the decrease ...

The Ministry of External Affairs today signed two agreements with the public sector WAPCOS Limited for assisting Cambodia in water resources management. One of the agreements is on Study of Ground Water Resources of Kampong Spue Province in Cambodia and the other on Development of ...

The Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) yesterday introduced techniques to prepare a good rice harvest for farmers ahead of the rainy season, CEDAC announced. Yang Saing Koma, president of CEDAC, said farmers could improve their harvests if they follow the seven steps. ...

A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is ...

Agriculture Ministry officials said yesterday that they would soon complete a new law to regulate and support the creation of farmers’ cooperatives. They said the law would allow farmers to organize cooperatives, which could improve their market position and allow access to financial and technical ...

A senior agricultural official is concerned by the prevalence of fake fertilizers that cause stunted rice crops and reduce farmers’ profits. Ngin Chhay, director of the Rice Crops Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry, told the Development Research Forum in Phnom Penh yesterday the products were ...

Representatives of Cambodia’s rice sector and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) met yesterday with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to discuss the implementation of a five-year program to promote the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...

The government is not doing enough to help farmers weather the destructive effects of drought and flooding brought on by climate change, leaving NGOs to provide aid and emergency relief in cases of natural disaster, agriculture industry leaders said at a forum yesterday. ...

An unusual report shows that organic rice buyers in the U.S. are getting a large percentage of their rice from Cambodia. The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) exported 114 tonnes of organic jasmine rice to the U.S. in the first quarter of ...

A new study has determined that cost and space are the biggest constraints to setting up canteens in Cambodia’s garment factories. The findings were presented on Monday night at a cocktail party attended by Cambodia’s former ambassador to the US, Roland Eng, the Swedish Ambassador Anne ...

The director-general of Tele­com Cambodia, one of the country’s most highly regarded state-owned enterprises and a candidate for listing on the stock exchange, has left his post amid an investigation into corruption allegations, the minister of posts and telecommunications said on Thursday. Despite the staff’s ...

The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, or Cedac, has built a $500,000 rice mill in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district in the hope of exporting more milled rice overseas, an official said yesterday. “We expect that in 2013, we would export between 200 tons and ...

Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said George Boden, a campaigner at watchdog group Global Witness. Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said ...

A study the Lao government has used to claim the Xayaburi dam would be harmless if redesigned has been criticised for not addressing concerns about the project’s effect on fish in the Lower Mekong river. Lao Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Viraponh Viravong was reported ...

A new study is advocating a bottom-up approach to the Kingdom’s NGO scene, calling on international donors to alter their support strategies and foster the independence of grassroots initiatives taking off at the local level. The draft report, which was published last week by the Stanford ...

North Korea and Cambodia have attempting to increase trade between the two nations with Cambodia exporting rice and North Korea exporting knowledge. North Korea is set to share its knowledge of small scale hydropower and mining expertise in exchange for rice, beans and corn imports. ...

After pounding on her chest and demanding a pig’s head, fruits and flowers to be offered to the angry spirit that she believed had taken over her body, garment worker Srey Mom collapsed on the floor of the Global Factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol ...

Cambodia is suffering disproportionately from the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from more developed nations, according to a new study published in the journal Nature on Friday. ...

Despite their overwhelmingly female workforce, garment factories in Kompong Speu province fail to adequately address the maternal health and child-care needs of their staff, according to new study set to be released by the French NGO Enfants and Developpment. ...