Agricultural policy and administration

Responding to criticism, Cambodia’s apex rice industry body announced yesterday that it would submit a plan to Prime Minister Hun Sen that addresses two of the major challenges facing the Kingdom’s rice sector – competition from rice imports and access to finance for millers. ...

Vegetables, fruit and other food products imported from neighboring countries are undermining domestic agricultural production and steps need to be taken to assist the industry here, a forum was told yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has played down the results of a study that found high levels of arsenic in some samples of locally grown rice. ...

The tonnage of Cambodia’s agricultural exports increased by over 20 per cent last year, led by a surge in shipments of dried cassava chips, according to the latest Ministry of Agriculture data. ...

Australian banking giant ANZ has come under fire for its response to a scandal over its financing of a sugar plantation previously linked to forced evictions and child labour in Kampong Speu province. ...

Government officials, economists and businesses discussed the implementation of a draft program to invigorate vegetable farming in the Kingdom and cut imports from neighbouring countries in half by 2018.   ...

A fire burned through 45 hectares of sugarcane plantation belonging to three companies in Svay Rieng province’s Svay Tiep district on Tuesday, with one company representative suspecting that the fire was intentionally set. ...

Cambodian agricultural experts are suggesting a national standard for organic products.Cambodian farmers are increasingly growing organic rice and vegetables in some places, but there is no official certification available. ...

A Chinese-owned agricultural company will inaugurate a $360 million sugar mill in northern Cambodia next month, in what is being billed as one of Asia’s largest sugar processing facilities. ...

At the close of the three-day annual Cambodia Rice Forum, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol on Tuesday suggested that the first-rate rice brand set to be launched on the international market this year be marketed as “Extra Premium” jasmine rice. ...

Cambodia’s rice industry faces a ple­thora of challenges—both internal and external—that have led to low prices and prevented ex­porters from achieving a lofty tonnage target set by the government in 2010, Prime Minister Hun­ Sen said on Monday. ...

A farmer from Battambang province took this year’s honor of growing the country’s top rice paddy on Sunday as industry heavyweights gathered in Phnom Penh for the first of the three-day Cambodia Rice Forum. ...

The Agriculture Ministry yesterday launched a strategy for the developing the sector, aiming to expand exports of agricultural products to spur economic growth through sustainable farming practices.Agriculture Minister Ouk Rabun said the government has implemented many strategies and development plans to boost the agriculture sector ...

Grow Asia, a multi-stakeholder partnership focused on sustainable and inclusive agriculture in the ASEAN region, is seeking to expand to Cambodia by 2016 to help small-scale farming develop into commercial agriculture and to strengthen the agriculture sector, a senior executive from Grow Asia said. ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) and the Association for SMEs of Cambodia will jointly hold the fifth Cambodia Rice Forum to discuss the future of the country’s rice industry with major stakeholders. ...

As the harvest of wet-season rice ends this month, a report from the Ministry of Agriculture says the yield will fall slightly below the target but this will not affect exports.  ...

Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol has hired a Swiss firm to carry out a damage assessment and agreed to compensate the hundreds of families its nowdefunct plantations in Oddar Meanchey province have robbed of their land, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand announced Wednesday. ...

Cambodia has declined to join the world’s largest rubber production group, the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), because there is no benefit in doing so now, a senior official and an industry executive say.  ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday expressed concern about agricultural productivity in the rainy season, as the rains so far this year have been worryingly scarce. ...

People are no longer denying that El Nino – a cyclical weather phenomenon that can cause severe drought – has arrived in Cambodia. ...

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Cambodia’s agriculture industry contributes 37 percent of GDP, and employs 67 percent of the workforce, with 75 percent of cultivated land dedicated to growing rice. ...

The last decade was golden for Cambodian agriculture. The annual agricultural sector growth of 5.3% between 2004 and 2012 was one of the highest in the world, according to a new World Bank report, Cambodian Agriculture in Transition: Opportunities and Risks , prepared with the ...

For Sam Phat and her family, the decision 10 years ago to plant rubber trees on their hectare of land was an easy one. Because of booming demand, mostly from China, rubber prices were high, and the startup cost of planting trees was low. ...

The government of China has put on hold a $300 million loan to a Cambodian rice project, aimed at developing storage and warehousing facilities in the country, as the government of Cambodia has not been able to meet the criteria set by the Chinese authorities, ...