Agriculture and fishing

Less than a week after banning commercial fishing in Tonle Sap Lake, Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a sub-decree on Monday extending the ban to four provinces along the Mekong River. According to the sub-decree, signed March 5 and released publicly yesterday, commercial fishing will be ...

More than 300 Kandal province villagers have filed a complaint with Sa’ang district officials over sand dredging along the Bassac river after riverbanks in their village collapsed, district governor Khim Chankiri said yesterday. Mr. Chankiri said, however, that the sand dredging operation along the Bassac ...

A lack of funds would prevent Cambodia registering some of the country’s specialty products as geographic indications (GI), a form of international recognition that has boosted the sales of other domestic products such as Kampong Speu palm sugar. The government would like to see Siem Reap ...

Government officials in Kompong Thom province said yesterday that they are investigating the ownership of more than 2,000 hectares of land currently being held by an unknown number of individuals who are suspected of illegal land grabbing. An Agriculture Ministry official pointed the finger of ...

Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun announced yesterday that the government would establish its first one-stop service office for rice millers and exporters by the end of the month. The announcement comes two months after Hun Sen signed off on the idea, which is meant to cut ...

Armed troops that were deployed last month to quell a land dispute protest outside the Kompong Speu Provincial Court were ordered to do so by a court prosecutor, a commander in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) said yesterday. On Feb. 9, a detachment of ...

Two days after extending indefinitely a ban on commercial fishing in Tonle Sap Lake, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday called for the release of all prisoners detained during the government crackdown, officials close to the premier said yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayli told the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the release of all prisoners serving sentences and suspects facing charges related to illegal fishing, officials said yesterday, though it was unclear when the directive would take effect. Nao Thuok, director general of the Fisheries Administration, said the prime ...

Kratie provincial police have arrested the general manager of TTY rubber company, and he is now facing charges for his role in a Jan. 18 shooting of four villagers by the company’s armed guards, police and court officials said yesterday. Authorities arrested two TTY guards ...

The long-time general manager of TTY Company, Un Piseth, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion he ordered gunfire that injured four protesters in Kratie province on January 18. Deputy provincial prosecutor Hak Hoin said the 47-year-old had been detained after questioning on Saturday over the shootings, ...

Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday with Brazil, the largest Latin American economy, to boost cooperation in areas that include agriculture, technology and diplomatic ties, officials said. The MoU was signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by secretary of state Ouch Borith and ...

Revenues from Cambodian corn exports fell by 52 per cent last year as farmers scrapped the crop for the more lucrative, but less stable, cassava plant. The Kingdom exported 35,381 tonnes of corn, worth US$2.2 million, in 2011, down from 86,533 tonnes worth $4.57 million the ...

Local human rights group Adhoc has requested provincial approval to stage a large-scale march later this month involving hundreds of indigenous minorities embroiled in a land dispute in Ratanakiri province. The demonstration is being organized to bring attention to what minority villagers claim is judicial ...

In April 2010, Kampot Pepper and Kompong Speu palm sugar both gained a geographical indication (GI) from the Ministry of Commerce that recognized their unique qualities and protected their name. But while Kampot pepper producers export almost all of their 17-ton annual production at high ...

The Royal Government of Cambodia and private land developers were exploiting indigenous communities in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri provinces by signing concession deals for the communities’ land without prior consultation, advocates said yesterday. “We urge the government as well as the private sector to respect [indigenous peoples’] ...

The potential for investment in Cambodia certainly appears to be there, as the country’s location in Indochina affords much opportunity for cross-border trade with Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, says Mark Mobius. Mr Mobius, who oversees more than US $40 billion worth of investments as executive chairman ...

More than 200 villagers from Kandal’s Kien Svay district gathered in protest yesterday to urge the National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution to resolve their long-standing dispute with a CPP official. The protesters assembled in the Samrong Thom commune brandishing photos of the prime minister and ...

Eleven village representatives from Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces traveled to Phnom Penh yesterday to meet with National Assembly lawmakers and appeal for an end to the planned construction of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam. The hydropower project, funded by Vietnam Electricity, will flood tens ...

If the government continues to grant economic land and mining concessions at the current rate, there will be no more arable land left in the country to give away within one year, a researcher from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights said yesterday. Pointing to the ...

A government committee yesterday approved a draft sub-decree aimed at protecting the endangered Mekong River dolphin and will send it to the Council of Ministers within a few weeks. Among the provisions contained in the sub-decree is the creation of a 180-km-long conservation area stretching ...

The government yesterday moved to protect endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River, announcing plans for a 180-kilometre-long conservation area that would stretch from the Lao border through Stung Treng province to Kratie town. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission for Conservation and Development of ...

The total number of land concessions offered by the government to private agro-industrial firms hit 1.19 million hectares, or 13.5 percent of Cambodia’s total land mass, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The government figure undermines figures released late last year ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday extended indefinitely a ban on commercial fishing in Tonle Sap lake, citing ongoing illegal fishing to the detriment of local villagers. The premier had first imposed the ban on 35 fishing lots in the lake in August, as a result of ...

Representatives of more than 300 families in Battambang province’s Bavel district yesterday urged government officials to intervene in a land dispute with provincial authorities and a businessman. Representative Thuy Ry said the 305 families had lived on the 3,638 hectares of land in Ampil Pram Doeum ...