Agriculture and fishing

Palm sugar from Kampong Speu, which has been registered for geographical indication (GI) status, is in the processing stage of being granted protected geographical indication (PGI) status in Thailand and Vietnam. This comes after Kampot pepper was recently certified as PGI in the European Union ...

New figures show that Cambodia’s sugar exports to the European Union fell by 94.8 per cent between 2013 and 2015, amid accusations of rights abuses and land grabbing in the Kingdom’s industry. ...

Cambodian women play an important role in the agricultural sector, especially as the nation’s economic conditions continue to force many men to seek work overseas, according to experts. ...

A week after an alliance of millers and exporters criticized the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) for its inaction in the face of the sector’s possible collapse, the federation Wednesday announced the formation of a new task force to manage challenges facing its members. ...

Responding to criticism, Cambodia’s apex rice industry body announced yesterday that it would submit a plan to Prime Minister Hun Sen that addresses two of the major challenges facing the Kingdom’s rice sector – competition from rice imports and access to finance for millers. ...

The president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has asked the government for an emergency loan of $20 million to $30 million, saying it is necessary to prevent the collapse of the rice sector. ...

Vegetables, fruit and other food products imported from neighboring countries are undermining domestic agricultural production and steps need to be taken to assist the industry here, a forum was told yesterday. ...

Local rice millers and exporters have responded with alarm to the rice-export target set by the Lao government of 1 million tons this year, while Cambodian rice millers and traders have yet to overcome numerous barriers hindering their competitiveness at home and abroad. ...

Local agro-industrial conglomerate Mong Reththy Group is negotiating a new partnership that would send large-volume shipments of Cambodian cassava products to Europe for the first time. ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) will work closely with the government to curb Vietnamese rice imports flooding the domestic market and channel more lending to domestic millers so that they can compete with rivals in neighboring countries, it said yesterday in a statement. ...

The Japanese government has given a grant to the International Volunteers of Yamagata (IVY) group, which supports poverty reduction projects and organic product markets in Svay Rieng and Preah Vihear. ...

Rubber producers said yesterday the government’s decision to amend the export tax scheme on natural rubber fell short of expectations and would do little to stem the losses of farmers as rubber prices hover near a six-year low. ...

Authority over economic land concessions (ELCs) currently under the purview of the Ministry of Environment will be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, while all protected areas and nature preserves currently under the Ministry of Agriculture will pass to the Ministry of Environment, according to ...

Hundreds of cubic meters of timber on a Mondulkiri economic land concession leased to the Uni-Green Company burned to the ground yesterday after an alleged fire from a nearby forest jumped to the property, according to provincial governor Svay Sam Eng, who added that despite ...

Cambodia’s Kampot pepper, a go-to spice for chefs around the world, has joined an elite group of gourmet food items whose names are protected by the European Union, joining products such as Gruyere cheese from France and Parma ham from Italy. ...

At a public market in front of the Kampong Speu market, a stall selling organic vegetables attracts dozens of housewives and passers by. Many stop to buy the locally grown vegetables, which are here thanks to a new program established by the Cambodian Center for ...

Japan may import cassava and rubber from Cambodia and investors from the country are considering building processing plants for the two commodities here, according to a senior official at the Agriculture Ministry. ...

Cambodian rubber producers expect global prices will recover this year after the four leading-rubber producing countries agreed to cut their supply to the global market over the next six months to boost prices. ...

A representative for  250 families locked in a land dispute in a remote area of Kampong Speu province is calling on the national government to intervene, alleging collusion between the district governor as well as Master International Cooperation Group, which residents of three villages accuse ...

Amid late-arriving rains and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, groundwater supplies are shrinking, a fact that could leave 1.5 million Cambodian farmers unable to water their crops within 15 years, according to a study published last month in the Journal of Hydrology. ...

About half of the country’s rice millers and exporters went out of business last year and those clinging on are likely to follow suit within two years unless the government injects capital into the sector and takes measures to curb the flood of imported rice ...

Police officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said cases of illegal fishing continued to rise last year, when almost 4,000 illegal fishing offenses were stopped and 181 were sent to court. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has played down the results of a study that found high levels of arsenic in some samples of locally grown rice. ...

Fifty-seven turtles, four pythons and two trucks were seized during the arrest of four men in Kampong Chhnang province on Saturday while they were allegedly transporting the protected animals for sale in Phnom Penh. ...