Agricultural production

The opening of a quality-inspection centre for agricultural products in Kandal province, originally scheduled for the end of 2017, has been delayed, with authorities now saying it will open during the first months of 2018. ...

Agriculture Minister Veng Sokhon said he would ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to take action to help farmers compete against neighbouring countries, including further measures to address high electricity costs, as the sector mapped out its challenges for the year at a ministry-led forum in ...

Villagers in Preah Vihear province locked in land disputes with five economic land concessions belonging to sugar cane firms have urged provincial authorities to resolve their conflicts. Kroeun Vong, a villager representative in Chey Sen district, said ministry officials solved some cases by giving one hectare ...

The promises of Chinese agro-industrial investment have been recurrent: Hyped up by local officials and media outlets, with photographs of handshakes and earnest negotiation posted across social media, major deals are announced between government ministries and visiting delegations. ...

Cambodia has just launched a new registry for companies that wish to import biological control agents (BCA), effectively allowing the importation of these organisms which are widely used in other countries for pest control.​ ...

The government has reclassified 32,305 hectares of public land in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district to provide an economic land concession for the Lower Sesan II dam. According to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on November 17, the land covers part of ...

Cambodian pig farmers are facing a mounting crisis as the price of pigs has continued to plummet, with many blaming local officials for allowing Vietnam to illegally import pigs across the border, representatives from a farmers association said at a press conference yesterday. ...

Officials in the agriculture sector yesterday called on relevant stakeholders to scale up initiatives for crop insurance schemes to help Cambodian farmers mitigate the risks of having their fields destroyed by flooding and drought. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recently released a handbook on contract farming to promote agricultural leasing arrangements among farmers and buyers in the hope it will aid sustainable development of the sector. ...

During a meeting last week with a Vietnamese rubber association, Minister of Agriculture Veng Sakhon reminded Vietnamese investors of the many opportunities that the Cambodian agricultural sector offers and asked them to come to the kingdom to establish rubber and cassava processing factories. ...

The government had reclassified four economic land concessions as state property, reclaiming almost 20,000 hectares earlier handed to private firms to use for rubber plantations. ...

Six Vietnamese nationals were arrested on Wednesday afternoon in a Military Police raid that saw 30 officers confiscating at least 100 illegally felled trees and 10 logging vehicles from an economic land concession in Kratie province’s Snuol district near the border with Vietnam. ...

A $20 million Ministry of Agriculture programme has struggled to meet its goal of introducing 160 tonnes a day of high-quality locally produced vegetables to the market, with ministry officials saying that as a result of high production costs and pricing issues it was currently ...

Four families have received a resolution in their land dispute with a sugar company’s economic land concession plantation in Preah Vihear province. ...

Cambodian rice exports increased nearly 17 percent during the first nine months compared to the same period last year, with exporters pushing to fill orders under China’s higher import quota as European markets remained steady. ...

German development agency GIZ held a consultation workshop in Phnom Penh yesterday for its two-year Facilitating Trade in Agricultural Goods in Asean (FTAG) initiative, holding discussions with Ministry of Agriculture officials and local traders aimed at identifying the most suitable fruit and vegetable crops for ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen scolded Cambodians for complaining about pesticides contaminating their vegetables during a one-hour speech in Siem Reap yesterday, stating that the solution is simply not to buy contaminated vegetables. ...

The Asian Development Bank approved $50 million in additional financing to help boost agricultural productivity and improve smallholder farmers’ access to markets in 271 communes in the Tonle Sap basin, which is prone to natural calamities.​ ...

Amru Rice yesterday announced it would join hands with the SNV Organization to start a Warehouse Receipt System to help small-scale farmers.​ ...

USAID Cambodia officially launched its Feed the Future Cambodia Harvest II project yesterday, a five-year initiative that aims to promote commercial horticulture in four Cambodian provinces and help smallholder farmers gain access to markets, reducing the country’s high dependence on imported fruits and vegetables. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese agricultural company to provide technical assistance in developing pig production in Cambodia. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has alerted cassava farmers, traders, and importers about a new virus attacking cassava, instructing local authorities to work together with the industry to stem its spread. ...

The government has denied the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the agricultural sector amid persistent reports that some local farmers may already be cultivating genetically engineered “hybrid” seeds, warning that countries could restrict or ban the import of Cambodian agricultural products if use ...

The Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac), an organisation that supports local farming families and agricultural development projects, has seen strong interest in organic farming and expects to double the number of certified organic farmers and area under cultivation within a year. ...