Agriculture
Agricultural production
Cambodia looks to put its rice on the world’s plate
For as long as Cambodian rice farmers can remember, their product has had an unsavory reputation. Tough, dirty and unmilled, it was impossible to cook evenly, and even farmers traded it as pig feed in exchange for cash or better-quality rice from Vietnam or Thailand. Even ...
Companies squabble, villagers protest in Kandal
A company that villagers say owns land that was illegally grabbed from them in Kandal province asked more than 100 residents of Ponhea Leu commune to leave the firm out of their dispute and focus their ire on Phanimex, which is owned by powerful businesswoman ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/companies-squabble-villagers-protest-in-kandal-65067/
Villagers request intervention in land dispute
Villagers from Koh Kong province delivered petitions in Phnom Penh on Friday seeking international intervention in their land dispute with powerful businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat, alleging that his Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was encroaching on their farmland. Five representatives of the ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-request-intervention-in-land-dispute-65038/
Minister meets NGOs over ongoing UDG dispute
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Thursday met with U.N. and NGO representatives to discuss the ongoing dispute between the powerful Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) and villagers in Koh Kong province who say they were kicked off their land and had their shelters torched. In ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-meets-ngos-over-ongoing-udg-dispute-64952/
Protests continue for 4th day over land dispute
About 250 villagers protested against development firm Phanimex on Thursday as their commune chief faced questioning in Kandal provincial court over an ongoing land dispute. For the fourth consecutive day, villagers from Ponhea Leu commune rallied in front of the court, accusing Phanimex of grabbing 63 ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protests-continue-for-4th-day-over-land-dispute-64938/
Villagers seek refuge in Phnom Penh pagoda again
About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district embroiled in a land dispute with a plantation owner are the latest evictees to take residence in Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. A spokesman for City Hall, which has made repeated efforts in recent months to prevent the ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-seek-refuge-in-phnom-penh-pagoda-again-64942/
Minister lauds controversial sugar industry
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-lauds-controversial-sugar-industry-64810/
Officials raid villager’s home in KDC dispute
Police and court officials on Wednesday searched the home of villager Oum Sophy, who has been outspoken opponent of the well-connected KDC company as it has tried to push her and dozens of her neighbors off their land in Kompong Chhnang province. The raid came after ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-raid-villagers-home-in-kdc-dispute-64802/
Hun Sen’s cabinet accepts petition of villagers
The cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday accepted a petition from villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district who are requesting intervention in a land dispute with a plantation owner. Kong Chamroeun, a secretary in the prime minister’s cabinet, met about 100 villagers at Phnom ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-cabinet-accepts-petition-of-villagers-64812/
Ministry vows to take some ELC land back
Amid promises reiterated by the government yesterday that it will take a tougher stance on economic land concessions, logging tycoon Try Pheap minimally reduced his sweeping natural resource empire, returning more than 20,000 hectares of undeveloped forestry. It was unclear what kind of arrangement prompted Pheap ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-vows-take-some-elc-land-back
China pledges to buy 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia
A Chinese company is preparing a memorandum of understanding with Ministry of Commerce (MOC) pledging to buy 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia, according to Sun Chanthol, Minister of Commerce. The intention was made clear during a meeting between the Minister of Commerce and Song Xiaoguo, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YTA3MzBlMTE0MTY
Farmers ask Hun Sen for help, told to go home
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet on Tuesday refused to accept a petition from some 200 farmers who traveled from Kratie province to Phnom Penh to ask for help in settling their land dispute with a plantation owner, urging them to try settling the case with ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/farmers-ask-hun-sen-for-help-told-to-go-home-64716/
Price woes fuel corn farmers’ fears of lackluster sales
Corn farmers and dealers in the country’s northwestern provinces fear a decline in sales this season as local storage facilities become increasingly scarce and demand from Thai importers declines. Khun Thorn, president of Ta Sdar Samky Farmer Community in Battambang province, told the Post yesterday that ...
Chan Muyhong
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/price-woes-fuel-corn-farmers%E2%80%99-fears-lackluster-sales
Villagers charged with destruction of property in KDC clashes
Two villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the well-connected KDC company were charged Tuesday with intentional destruction of property and causing injuries during clashes with workers at the disputed development site in Kompong Chhnang province last week. On Monday, provincial police arrested 30-year-old Mang ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-charged-with-destruction-of-property-in-kdc-clashes-64707/
More villagers questioned in Phanimex case
Four more villagers from Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district embroiled in a land dispute with a powerful development company were questioned Tuesday as protests continued outside the provincial court. The villagers are the latest to be questioned over an ongoing dispute with the Phanimex Development company, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-villagers-questioned-in-phanimex-case-64727/
Villager arrested over recent KDC land dispute clashes
A 36-year-old villager was arrested at his home in Kompong Chhnang province Monday on allegations of destroying public property and causing injuries during one of several recent clashes in a long-running land dispute between farmers and the powerfully connected KDC International. Villagers say KDC, a firm ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-arrested-over-recent-kdc-land-dispute-clashes-64611/
Protest outside Kandal court as questioning starts in land case
About 200 people from Ponhea Leu district protested outside the Kandal provincial court Monday as questioning began of residents summoned last month in an ongoing land dispute. The court summoned 12 villagers on June 30, shortly after Phanimex Development company filed a complaint against the families, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-outside-kandal-court-as-questioning-starts-in-land-case-64632/
Activists deny property damage charge in court
Nine environmental activists on trial for the destruction of private property in Kompong Thom province denied allegations in court Monday that they ravaged a local farmer’s cassava field in 2011. The nine members of the Prey Long People’s Network, a group of activists dedicated to protecting ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activists-deny-property-damage-charge-in-court-64613/
ANZ Bank accused of abandoning farmers after splitting with sugar firm
Early this month, in what looks like a failed attempt to save its reputation, Australia‘s ANZ Bank severed its ties with Phnom Penh Sugar, a company accused of a range of human rights abuses linked to its plantations in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia. The move ...
Italy demands ‘fairer’ rice deal
Italy has demanded that the European Union restrict Cambodia’s duty-free import status, as concerns over the survival of that country’s rice sector appear to be reaching a fever pitch. According to rice industry website Oryza, the Italian government has officially submitted a request to the EU ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/italy-demands-%E2%80%98fairer%E2%80%99-rice-deal
New Association seeks to improve rice market
Cambodian farmers are looking toward a new organization to help them get the best prices for their rice, but many are skeptical disparities between farmers and traders can be overcome. The Cambodian Rice Federation was started in May, bringing together disparate companies, associations and farmers in ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/new-association-seeks-to-improve-rice-market/1957023.html
Villagers demand dam open its sluice gate
More than 100 villagers in Battambang province’s Sangke district whose rice crops are threatened by drought protested twice last week, calling on local authorities to force the Chinese company building an irrigation dam in the area to open the sluice gate to flood the parched ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-demand-dam-open-its-sluice-gate-63941/
How Cambodia’s secretive timber auctions are fueling the illegal logging trade
In the predawn hours of May 6, a flatbed truck packed with lengths of illegally logged timber sped past a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province, knocking aside a police car and racing off. Police later tracked down the truck to a house in Banlung City. In the ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/how-cambodias-secretive-timber-auctions-are-fueling-the-illegal-logging-trade-63919/
Work continues at contested KDC site
A company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem forged ahead with its construction of a concrete wall around a swath of disputed land in Kompong Chhnang province Friday, despite a call from the U.N.’s human rights envoy on Thursday that ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/work-continues-at-contested-kdc-site-63906/