Agriculture
Agricultural policy and administration
Puny plants perturb Kampot pepper producers
Kampot pepper farmers saw a bumper crop this year with harvest levels up more than 36 per cent, but rain shortages have diminished the producers’ chances of exporting their haul. According to Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), more than 30 tonnes ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/puny-plants-perturb-kampot-pepper-producers
Acacia chip exports to receive tax break: PM
The tax imposed on the export of acacia chips is to be abolished to help boost exports of the locally grown raw product, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Monday. Speaking at the grand opening of Aeon Mall, Hun Sen said that acacia chips exported to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/acacia-chip-exports-receive-tax-break-pm
Fishers report rampant corruption, major depletion of fisheries
Representatives of fishing communities say illegal operations are critically threatening the nation’s fisheries. Corruption and collusion between authorities and illegal fishermen are at the root of the problem, they say. More than 100 representatives from these communities met in Phnom Penh Friday, in an effort to find ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/fishers-report-rampant-corruption-major-depletion-of-fisheries/1946303.html
Fines called for in case against Khmer Krom
An ongoing land dispute may become more than just an embittered ordeal for three Khmer Krom villagers after officials requested yesterday that a Takeo court levy them huge fines. According to representatives from Borei Choslar district’s Sangkum Meanchey village, they are only farming barren land that ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fines-called-case-against-khmer-krom
India’s rice dump may impact local exports
With the Indian government set to inject five million tonnes of rice in to its domestic market, Cambodia’s rice producers fear that any spillover into the global rice trade may impact local exports. David Van, acting secretary-general of a newly established Cambodia Rice Federation, said ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/india%E2%80%99s-rice-dump-may-impact-local-exports
Feed plant in Pailin to aid farmers’ stockpiles
Pailin province’s $5 million animal-feed processing plant and warehouse is to finish construction in the next three months and it is a welcomed development for the local farming community. The plant’s owner, Chea Kea, who also owns Diamond Crown casino on the border with Thailand in ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/feed-plant-pailin-aid-farmers%E2%80%99-stockpiles
Rice piles up as exports slow
Lagging demand from foreign buyers has led to Cambodian rice being stockpiled at the country’s mills, according to the head of the country’s peak rice body. Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said that with exporters receiving fewer orders, the country’s larger rice ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-piles-exports-slow
Gov’t continues to seek new markets
The Ministry of Commerce has vowed to uncover more markets for Cambodian products to help buffer against price fluctuations caused by the Kingdom’s dependency on neighboring countries. In a response to concerns raised on social media, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol wrote on the ministry’s official Facebook ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gov%E2%80%99t-continues-seek-new-markets
Official in court over fraud case
A high-level agricultural official in Kampong Speu province has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from paddy rice farmers after promising to deliver them land titles in January 2013, a rights group representative and a court prosecutor said yesterday. Cher Pich, 44, deputy director of ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/official-court-over-fraud-case
Future of Displaced Kratie Farmers Still Unclear
Representatives of the 301 families granted a social land concession in Kratie province to resolve a long-running land dispute said Sunday that they filed a report with authorities on Saturday detailing the new families that have since gathered with them in the hope of also ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/future-of-displaced-kratie-farmers-still-unclear-61455/
Six Arrested For Bulldozing Flooded Forest Area
Military police joined forces with the Fisheries Administration in Kompong Thom province on Friday to arrest six men and confiscate four bulldozers being used to clear protected flooded forest in Stong district’s fisheries conservation area, officials said Sunday. District military police commander Khun Bunho said that ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-arrested-for-bulldozing-flooded-forest-area-61453/
Villagers Claim Soldiers Hired to Prevent Planting
Villagers in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district said Friday that Union Development Group (UDG) used military forces to prevent villagers from planting paddy rice on land that is locked in a longstanding dispute, a claim the military denied. Khun Thala, a 40-year-old villager, said Friday that ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-claim-soldiers-hired-to-prevent-planting-61420/
Back on timber patrol
When Cambodia’s most prominent forest activist, Chut Wutty, was gunned down in April 2012, the community network he created to sabotage the rampant deforestation of this vast forest fragmented. The forest patrols that he organised nearly ground to a halt. Without money to fund large-scale expeditions, ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/back-timber-patrol
Exporter under attack in rice row
In December 2011, the managing director of Megagreen Imex Cambodia, Renne Outh, proudly announced that his firm had inked a $21 million deal to be the first to ship Cambodian rice to the Philippines. Nearly two and a half years on, not a single Cambodian grain ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exporter-under-attack-rice-row
Rainfall still a month away, says ministry
The Ministry of Water and Meteorology has warned farmers of a rainfall shortage forecast to last at least another month, with average daily temperatures also forecast to remain above average. The announcement, issued on Monday, says that up until mid-July Phnom Penh, Kandal, Kampong Speu, Takeo, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rainfall-still-month-away-says-ministry
FAO Estimates Cambodia 2014 Rice Exports to Increase Slightly to 1.2 Million Tons
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated Cambodia’s 2014 rice exports to increase slightly to 1.2 million tons over that in 2013 due to increased production. The FAO reports that its exports estimate includes unofficial exports of milled as well as paddy rice ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/fao-estimates-cambodia-2014-rice-exports-increase-slightly-12-million-tons
K Speu families threaten to take back farms
Representatives for about 250 families involved in a long-running dispute with an agri-business firm in Kompong Speu province have filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc and say they will attempt to retake land that was stolen from them. About 60 of the villagers traveled to ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/k-speu-families-threaten-to-take-back-farms-60033/
Rice industry caught in flux
The rice industry’s quest for greater quality at lower cost reached a dead end yesterday at a conference in Phnom Penh, with exporters and farmers polarised on how to achieve greater returns for the industry. The workshop, titled “Improving Rice Value Chain and Enhancing Farmers’ Livelihoods”, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-industry-caught-flux
Vendors hit as price of Thai durian imports rise
The price of durian from Thailand has risen sharply this year, leading to shrinking profits for fruit vendors in Phnom Penh as demand from China for the spiky, pungent fruit grows more robust. On Sihanouk Boulevard, fruit vendor Heng Sovanna said that since March, the price ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/vendors-hit-as-price-of-thai-durian-imports-rise-59964/
NGOs lobby China, companies over Sesan dam
A group of 15 local and international rights groups Tuesday sent a slew of letters to the Chinese government and companies involved in the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam in Stung Treng province seeking a halt to dam construction due to serious environmental and social ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-lobby-china-companies-over-sesan-dam-59807/
Cassava fuel plant study now one year in
Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Oil & Gas is considering building a biomass plant in Battambang province to use cassava to produce fuel, a Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC) official says. Leng Chreang, director of mine risk education at CMAC, said the Japanese firm is one year ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cassava-fuel-plant-study-now-one-year
Villager travels to Parliament over land row
A representative of villagers involved in a land dispute in Mondolkiri province appealed to the government Tuesday to address their displacement after their shelters were destroyed by police and soldiers in a forced eviction Monday. Chan Rithy stood outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-travels-to-parliament-over-land-dispute-59795/
Yield of GI pepper up, but lower than hoped
This season’s Kampot pepper production is expected to reach 27 tonnes, up from 21 tonnes last year thanks to a larger area of harvested land. But Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Association, said on Sunday that despite the increase, adverse weather conditions meant the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/yield-gi-pepper-lower-hoped
Villagers in R’kiri dispute block road
Villagers in Ratanakkiri province blocked National Road 78A on Thursday for more than three hours as authorities tried to push through to evict them in favor of a rubber company, police and villagers said. About 400 villagers blocked the section of the road that links O’Chum ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-rkiri-dispute-block-road-59442/