Agriculture

Rice exports for the first quarter of the year jumped 8.5 percent to 162,220 tons from 149,464 tons for the same period last year, but in March the figure dropped 14.5 percent, or 9,592 tons, to 66,275 tons in the face of competition from Thailand, ...

As China opened one of its six dams on the upper Mekong River last month to help parched Southeast Asian countries down river cope with a record drought, it was hailed as benevolent water diplomacy. But to critics of hydroelectric dams built on the Mekong over ...

Demand for Kampong Speu palm sugar has surged, with orders already up 70 per cent this year, as appetite for the premium organic sugar product grows, boosting its price. ...

Mong Reththy, known as the king of agriculture in Cambodia for his role running the large Mong Reththy Group, aims to expand the Kingdom’s mango market to Europe. ...

The governments of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed to set up a centre in China where the six countries can work together to find solutions to water resource management problems, the Mekong River Commission said in a statement released yesterday.   ...

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will continue its support for the Kingdom’s food security and agricultural sector, while also helping with market research to assist the export of Cambodian milled rice and geographically-protected pepper products, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said ...

Cambodia’s agriculture sector will benefit from a grant of $35 million by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with some of the money also going towards public health and education. ...

Villagers from Preah Vihear’s Kulen district, where last week two rubber company guard posts were torched, yesterday alleged security guards from the same company had looted their homes and threatened to burn them. ...

The government took steps to shore up the rice sector yesterday, saying it would remove the current value added tax [VAT] on milling machines in the country and shut down companies importing rice from neighboring countries and rebranding it as Cambodian during an emergency meeting ...

The government decided to drop a 10 percent value added-tax (VAT) for rice products during a meeting on Wednesday between representatives of the rice sector and government officials at the Council for the Development of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, officials said.   ...

The newly established special industry committee to deal with the crisis confronting the rice sector will meet Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon today to discuss urgent solutions to the problems they face. ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called for Malaysian businessmen to invest in rice mills and high-quality milling technology during a farewell meeting with the Malaysian ambassador to Cambodia, whose mission in the Kingdom ended yesterday. ...

One of four rubber plantations operated by the Vietnamese military in Ratanakkiri province had its contract with the government canceled last month amid accusations that it had engaged in illegal logging and had allowed Vietnamese farmers to encroach on Cambodian land, the director of the ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng reminded governors of border provinces yesterday to pay special attention to issues surrounding the lease of Cambodian land to foreign nationals. ...

For generations, the indigenous Bunong were famous as the great elephant keepers and masters of the forests in eastern Cambodia. They called the fertile, rolling hills of their ancestral homeland “meh ne,” or mother – a source of food, livelihoods and self-identity. ...

Kampong Speu palm sugar production is predicted to slightly decrease this year due to a late start, climate change, water shortages and working capital for farmers, but prices are expected to rise due to the sugar’s growing popularity since its geographical indication certification. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked China to import more agricultural products from Cambodia to boost bilateral trade and strengthen the relationship between the two countries. The prime minister wants to boost bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2017. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has rejected a request from private-sector rubber firms – led by agricultural tycoon Mong Reththy – for a meeting to discuss the floundering fortunes of the nation’s rubber sector, claiming the ministry was busy and was already addressing the issue. ...

Up to 4,000 mostly ethnic minority people in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district are facing a water shortage after the local supplier announced service would be suspended due to impending widescale drought. ...

Drought in Southeast Asia is raising concerns in the Cambodian and Vietnamese countryside where salinity levels are rising in the Mekong River and people are skeptical about fresh promises from Laos that it will respect the rights of downstream countries in dam construction. ...

Thirteen provinces across the country have finished harvesting their dry season rice and yields have increased on last year’s crop, but local millers and exporters are concerned about the bulk of the crop making its way to a neighboring country.   ...

Yon Kob’s cassava fields in Sala Krao district have usually been harvested by now, but this year the thicket of thin, knobby cassava plants is still standing. Mr. Kob has delayed his harvest in the hope that the price of the tuber would rise, but ...

One of Thailand’s leading agricultural groups and a major producer of animal feed will build a $30 million factory in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, company officials announced last week. ...

As Phnom Penh sees a sprouting of organic grocery stores across the city, the newest entrant in the market says it will go a step further and sell chemical-free pesticides to farmers to encourage the growing trend of organic products and farming techniques. ...