Agriculture and fishing

Climate change and globalisation are fuelling an explosion in the pests and diseases that afflict south-east Asia’s cassava crops, threatening a multi-billion dollar industry and the staple food of millions of people, a report warns. ...

Economic growth in developing East Asian countries is expected to ease in the next two years as the slowdown in China and sluggish pricing for commodities linger, according to new forecast released Sunday by the World Bank.   ...

Agricultural products have been granted an exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) as part of a government effort to support local rice farmers and millers, according to a prakas issued Wednesday by the General Taxation Department. ...

A dead Irrawaddy dolphin was found on the banks of the Mekong early yesterday morning in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district, according to police. District police chief Noun Yin said officers were unable to determine the cause of the dolphin’s death because there were no physical ...

One of a farmer’s greatest enemies is heat. As many as 50 percent of the fruit and vegetables harvested in Cambodia are lost because of heat – lettuce wilts, onions become slimy, tomatoes turn to mush. Because of a lack of cold storage at most of ...

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, ...

At what should be a boom time ahead of the New Year, seafood vendors in Kampot have full baskets but no buyers as the algae bloom around Kep turns the water bright green and dead fish wash ashore. The government has issued a warning against swimming ...

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. ...

Despite a decline in the amount of exports, income from the fisheries sector rose almost 30 percent last year compared with 2014. ...