Agriculture
Agricultural production
Taskforce to weigh measures for rice sector’s future
The Commerce Ministry has created a special taskforce to study challenges threatening the sustainability of the nation’s rice industry and will report its findings within two weeks, a ministry official said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/taskforce-weigh-measures-rice-sectors-future
Sesame exports on the rise, official says
The Kingdom exported 9,379.29 tons of sesame last year, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with Vietnam buying the lion’s share. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22796/sesame-exports-on-the-rise--official-says/
Grant for organic vegetables
The Japanese government has given a grant to the International Volunteers of Yamagata (IVY) group, which supports poverty reduction projects and organic product markets in Svay Rieng and Preah Vihear. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22332/grant-for-organic-vegetables/
Bodies swap control over ELCs, preserves
Authority over economic land concessions (ELCs) currently under the purview of the Ministry of Environment will be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, while all protected areas and nature preserves currently under the Ministry of Agriculture will pass to the Ministry of Environment, according to ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bodies-swap-control-over-elcs-preserves
Mysterious fire destroys ELC timber admidst investigation
Hundreds of cubic meters of timber on a Mondulkiri economic land concession leased to the Uni-Green Company burned to the ground yesterday after an alleged fire from a nearby forest jumped to the property, according to provincial governor Svay Sam Eng, who added that despite ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22280/mysterious-fire-destroys-elc-timber-admidst-investigation/
Market for organic products on the upswing
At a public market in front of the Kampong Speu market, a stall selling organic vegetables attracts dozens of housewives and passers by. Many stop to buy the locally grown vegetables, which are here thanks to a new program established by the Cambodian Center for ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/market-for-organic-products-on-the-upswing/3216213.html
Land activist seeks gov’t intervention
A representative for 250 families locked in a land dispute in a remote area of Kampong Speu province is calling on the national government to intervene, alleging collusion between the district governor as well as Master International Cooperation Group, which residents of three villages accuse ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22018/land-activist-seeks-gov---t-intervention/
El Nino may crimp lending to farmers
Lending to farmers will be stricter this year as the El Nino weather phenomenon extends the dry season, executives at microfinance institutes (MFIs) said yesterday. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21905/el-nino-may-crimp-lending-to-farmers/
Chroy Changvar residents file petition over satellite city
Nearly 100 residents from six communities within Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district filed a petition to City Hall, the Canadian Embassy and the World Bank yesterday demanding intervention in a land dispute with the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC), which is responsible for constructing a ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21918/chroy-changvar-residents-file-petition-over-satellite-city/
Controversial study says violence works
Indigenous peoples fighting economic land concessions (ELCs) in Cambodia are more likely to get results with violent protest than lodging their complaints through legitimate channels, a controversial study published this month argues. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/controversial-study-says-violence-works
Official gets called out in sanctuary logging case
Two men have been arrested over, and a military official implicated in, illegal logging that took place at the protected Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary last week. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/official-gets-called-out-sanctuary-logging-case
Veggie farming to trim kingdom’s import bill
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. ...
Ayanna Runcie
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/veggie-farming-trim-kingdoms-import-bill
SME federation wants its own SEZ
The Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia is planning to propose that the government set up special economic zone (SEZ) for small and medium-sized sized enterprises (SMEs) so that they can work in clusters, saying this will enhance their productivity, increase ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21157/sme-federation-wants-its-own-sez/
Appetite for investment in agriculture rising, forum told
South Korean investment in Cambodia’s agricultural industry, especially its food-processing sector, could result in the export of more value-added products that could help transform the Kingdom’s economy, a senior official at the Council for the Development of Cambodia and Korean officials told an investment forum ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20905/appetite-for-investment-in-agriculture-rising--forum-told/
Tonle Sap fish harvest rises, official says
The volume of fish caught to make prahok (fermented fish paste) in the first season on the Tonle Sap Lake and River rose because weather conditions were ideal, but the amount expected for the second season, which begins in February, is likely to be lower ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/19468/tonle-sap-fish-harvest-rises--official-says/
Kampong Speu locals protest in long-running dispute
Several hundred villagers protested outside the Kampong Speu Provincial Hall yesterday, demanding the return of thousands lost to economic land concessions (ELCs) in a years-old land dispute with a Chinese company and a prominent tycoon. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-speu-locals-protest-long-running-dispute
Organic farming expands to meet demand
In the past, much of the produce sold in Siem Reap’s large indoor markets was imported from foreign countries. Now local initiatives are trying to change that. ...
Naomi Collett Ritz
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16035/organic-farming-expands-to-meet-demand/
HAGL makes deal with villagers
A “major breakthrough” has been reached in discussions between Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai and 11 indigenous communities in Ratanakkiri province that have lost land and resources to the company’s plantations. ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hagl-makes-deal-villagers
Still waiting for the rain
People are no longer denying that El Nino – a cyclical weather phenomenon that can cause severe drought – has arrived in Cambodia. ...
Naomi-Collett Ritz
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15484/still-waiting-for-the-rain/
GMOs: cheaper food and higher farm incomes for 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. ...
Gabrielle Ward and John Humphreys
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15487/gmos--cheaper-food-and-higher-farm-incomes-for-cambodia-/
Productivity focus needed for farming: World Bank
Despite increased yields and the rising use of farming machinery in Cambodia’s agriculture sector, growth in the industry for 2013-14 was only between 1 and 2 per cent, with greater emphasis needed on the quality of seeds and fertilisers, as well as encouraging greater vegetable ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/productivity-focus-needed-farming-world-bank
Amid drought, farmers scuffle over water
Dozens of drought-hit farmers from two districts in Banteay Meanchey province scuffled on Saturday night after one group blocked a canal leading from a shared reservoir, preventing water from flowing to the other community. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amid-drought-farmers-scuffle-over-water-89476/
Despite drought, crops will come – but at a cost
This year is no different from last year and many of the previous years for the residents of Krong Stung Sen in Kampong Thom province. Rain has been scarce, and rice growers must pay to pump water from the state-owned ditches into their rice paddies. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13457/despite-drought--crops-will-come-----but-at-a-cost/
Clock ticks on rice harvest
As el niño continues to buffet Cambodia, the next two weeks could be crucial in determining whether the Kingdom will suffer from a smaller-than-usual rice harvest and potential food shortages, experts said yesterday. According to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries general director So Khan ...
Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/clock-ticks-rice-harvest