Agriculture and fishing

Ministry of Interior officials announced yesterday that three more villagers accused of involvement in a “secessionist plot” in Kratie province turned themselves in and confessed their guilt on Saturday, taking advantage of the prime minister’s offer of immunity for those who agree to act as ...

Cassava plantings in Battambang province dropped more than 18 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2011, according to agriculture officials. The decease is a result of that previous year’s yield fetching a low price and farmers ...

Cambodia’s trade deficit in the first half of the year grew 34.31 percent compared with the same period in 2011, reaching $1.36 billion, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. Though revenues earned from exports grew 12.13 percent to about $2.50 billion, a growing ...

A decision on whether to build the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River in northern Laos is a life and death one that will affect Cambodians downstream, according to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Namhong said the controversial 1,260-megawatt hydropower dam has ...

The Cambodian government has cancelled a 14,981-hectare concession in the Cardamom mountains granted to an Australian firm for a banana plantation, the conservation group Wildlife Alliance has reported. Wildlife Alliance has long lobbied against the concession in Koh Kong province’s southern cardamom forest on which Indochina ...

Two more people in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district have been arrested in conjunction with what local authorities are calling a secessionist plot, while provincial authorities threatened to demolish more homes if residents do not leave a disputed area, officials said yesterday. Deputy provincial court prosecutor ...

Increased labour strife in the garment sector and slumping Western economies contributed to a slow-down in Cambodia’s exports during the first six months of the year, with total growth dropping by about 74 per cent year on year. Exports rose, to US$2.5 billion, up 12 per ...

Before the big dinner with Hillary Clinton, Prime Minister Hun Sen and the leaders of Thailand and Myanmar on July 13 in Siem Reap, Tom Whitcraft of RMA Group, which owns the Ford dealership in Cambodia, sat down for an interview. Whitcraft said Ford has about ...

The biggest US trade delegation to Cambodia in decades joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here as the two countries look to expand their economic relationship beyond exports of cheaply produced garments. “On the economic front, there is much more room for us to grow ...

Two Cambodian fishermen, trafficked into slave labour in South Africa in mid-2011, returned safely to Phnom Penh on Friday after being rescued by legal resource group the Community Legal Education Center. ...

The Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court questioned four villagers among 12 summoned for questioning over a land dispute in Samakki Meanchey district, which has pitted some 80 local families against the owner of a private company they accuse of taking their land. While the dispute stems from alleged land grabbing, ...

Villagers from Svay Rieng province’s Krasaing commune have vowed to continue their protests to preserve a patch of community forest earmarked for clearing, despite receiving an official warning yesterday. Residents said it would affect over 2,700 people. ...

The number of agricultural tractors and power-trailers imported to Cambodia through the Poipet International Checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province has decreased by 72 percent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year, the provincial commerce department said. Thong Thyna, ...

Two more people in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district were arrested Tuesday in connection with what local authorities are calling a secessionist plot, a forestry official said yesterday. Veal Veng district forestry chief Thorn Bunthet said that Kuy Van, 55, and Leng Chhoeuk, 50, were arrested ...

Cambodia will push to finalise a rice-exporting bloc with four other regional countries by the end of the year in a bid to become the world’s “food basket”, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The group of countries including Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar – ...

Following the release of the country’s first nationwide economic census earlier this year, the government is now planning to carry out a similar census dedicated to the agriculture sector, a government official said yesterday. Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun announced the government’s intention to carry out ...

Cambodian farmers often turn to pesticides when trying to stop insects from destroying crops, but the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) has come up with a better idea: frogs. “Frogs are important to protect rice plants from damage by insects, especially during ...

Cambodia’s waterways go largely unused for domestic shipping, a factor hurting the competitveness of the country’s logistics and agriculture sectors, experts said yesterday. Cambodia lost ground this year in a measure of logistics performance. As rice millers and exporters push toward the 1 million-tonne rice goal ...

After the Philippines government issued their own policy regarding milled rice exports the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia has expressed its disinterest in exporting milled rice to its neighbour, Cambodia’s Commerce Minister said yesterday. Local rice millers will not be encouraged to make any efforts to ...

More than 100 families in Stung Treng province have returned to land they were evicted from in 2007, hoping to acquire property titles after student volunteers arrived in the area to demarcate land under the titling program announced last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Stung ...

The homes of nearly 200 families living in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district were demolished yesterday and Monday after officials accused the residents of being involved in a secessionist plot, local officials and villagers said. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that authorities had demolished 191 homes ...

Another alleged “secessionist” involved in a land dispute was arrested yesterday in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district, where villagers said authorities continued a prolonged forced eviction that has led to the destruction of some 500 homes. Three other men accused of attempting to create an autonomous ...

A day before Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly called for the arrest of Mam Sonando, the Beehive Radio station director hosted a fiery broadcast from The Hague, where lawyers were trying to launch a case against the premier in the International Criminal Court. Just under three ...

China is the largest provider of financial assistance to Cambodia for agriculture and irrigation development in the last three years, Cambodia’s Minister of Finance Keat Chhon said on Tuesday. Since 2010 to date, he said, Cambodia has received a total loan of $561 million and a ...