Agriculture and fishing

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to suspend loan repayments by borrowers affected by this year’s drought, or either make the loans interest free or cut the rates. ...

Cambodia’s total rice production this year will exceed 9.2 million tonnes, according preliminary estimates of rice harvested in 24 provinces and compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture. ...

The Fisheries Administration (FA) plans to strengthen its presence in Kep province with the opening of a new cantonment there, officials announced in an official ceremony yesterday morning.The move comes after what conservationists say has been a steady increase in illegal trawling in Kep Bay, ...

Local rubber producers yesterday expressed little enthusiasm to attend this year’s Global Rubber Conference, which opens today in Ho Chi Minh City, voicing pessimism about the gloomy market for natural rubber and scepticism on whether the conference would yield any solutions to producers’ pricing problems.Among ...

Grow Asia, a multi-stakeholder partnership focused on sustainable and inclusive agriculture in the ASEAN region, is seeking to expand to Cambodia by 2016 to help small-scale farming develop into commercial agriculture and to strengthen the agriculture sector, a senior executive from Grow Asia said. ...

A prolonged regional drought is expected to push Thai and Vietnamese rice prices up by 10 to 15 per cent, narrowing the price gap that has kept Cambodian rice exporters from securing major international supply orders, one of the Kingdom’s biggest rice exporters said yesterday. ...

Fish farms in Sihanoukville have lost an estimated 100 tonnes of fish to an aquatic parasite infestation in the past five days, Fishery Administration officials said yesterday.The parasite, known as “marine velvet” or Amyloodinaum Ocellatum, feeds on fish tissue – giving it a powdered look ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s announcement on Facebook yesterday that the annual tax on vehicles used by limited-income families, including tractors, would be abolished was met with indifference by small-scale farmers, who said high interest rates on loan were a concern, not the negligible tax assessed ...

The fate of 70 million people rests on what happens to the Mekong river. With world leaders meeting in Paris next week for crucial UN climate talks, John Vidal journeys down south-east Asia’s vast waterway – a place that encapsulates some of the dilemmas they ...

One of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world was netted by local fishermen near Phnom Penh earlier this month.A two-metre Mekong giant catfish, weighing an estimated 90 to 114 kilos, one of only a handful left of a species that faces extinction, ...

Rubber and palm oil giant the Socfin Group has committed to a global “zero-deforestation policy” across Africa and Asia amid a legal dispute with ethnic Bunong communities in Mondulkiri province’s Bousraa commune. ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) and the Association for SMEs of Cambodia will jointly hold the fifth Cambodia Rice Forum to discuss the future of the country’s rice industry with major stakeholders. ...

The increased cultivation area of Kampot pepper has offset losses due to drought, with farmers of the premium quality peppercorn estimating that production could reach 80 tonnes in the coming harvest, nearly 40 per cent more than last season. The association’s 242 members have planted ...

As the harvest of wet-season rice ends this month, a report from the Ministry of Agriculture says the yield will fall slightly below the target but this will not affect exports.  ...

Ahead of the opening of Cambodia’s first modern abattoir, which is slated to begin operations in the near future, a new draft law to regulate animal produce and slaughterhouses was announced on Friday, along with the establishment of a “National Butchers’ Day” to be recognised ...

Cambodia rice exports saw a small rebound in October, notching up 12 per cent as compared to a year earlier, as harvests from the delayed rainy-season planting began to reach the nation’s rice mills. ...

មន្ត្រីមួយរូបបាននិយាយថា អង្ករសុម៉ាលីរបស់កម្ពុជាបានជាប់ចំនាត់ថ្នាក់លេខពីរក្នុងការប្រកួតស្រូវអង្ករពិភពលោកលើកទី៧ ជាមួួយប្រភេទអង្ករ ក្រអូបផ្សេងទៀតមកពីជុំវិញសកលលោកនៅទីក្រុងកូឡាឡាំពួរកាលពីចុងខែមុន ដែលលិទ្ធផលការប្រកួត ប្រជែងប្រចាំឆ្នាំនេះបានប្រកាស នៅថ្ងៃចុងក្រោយនៃខែតុលា។ ...

Experts are warning that the Lower Mekong Basin may soon face depleting fish stocks, further erosion of the coastline and rising salinity that will make rice fields uncultivable. An extensive, government- funded study by the Vietnam National Mekong Committee estimates the value of fish from ...

Fishing crime busts rose 150 per cent during the first nine months of 2015, compared with the same period last year, while anti-forestry crime actions dropped 13 per cent. ...

As a fickle rainy season that has seen areas of the country plagued by drought draws to a close, Cambodia’s rice production remains nearly on target, though food insecurity is still a problem for individual communities, according to the World Food Programme.The season’s slow start ...

Cambodia must focus on building a single recognisable brand for its premium fragrant rice to strengthen its international marketing efforts, Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol said yesterday. Cambodia’s Phka Rumduol – a long-grain, aromatic variety of rice – has been awarded the World’s Best Rice ...

Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol has hired a Swiss firm to carry out a damage assessment and agreed to compensate the hundreds of families its nowdefunct plantations in Oddar Meanchey province have robbed of their land, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand announced Wednesday. ...

Taiwan Fertiliser Company, a Taiwanese manufacturer and seller of fertilisers and chemical products, intends to build a fertiliser factory in Preah Sihanouk province to supply the local market, a company representative said yesterday. ...

Most years the rice fields outside Battambang are an unbroken sea of electric green, but this year they look more like a patchwork quilt. Some paddies are a healthy green, but others are a sickly yellow, while others are little more than empty, muddy fields ...