Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Gov’t signs off on Koh Rong protected habitat
The Cambodian government has signed off on the Kingdom’s first dedicated marine protection area in a bid to save the Koh Rong Archipelago’s coral reef and sea life. ...
Conservation NGO blamed for death of endangered crocodile
An environmental group has been accused of complicity in the decline of the critically endangered Siamese crocodile in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, mainly due to traps that are believed to have killed the last breeding-age female in the area. ...
Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/conservation-ngo-blamed-for-death-of-endangered-crocodile-113521/
Grow asia targeting six local cash crops
Grow Asia, which formally launched a partnership with Cambodia late last year, will reconvene on June 13 in Phnom Penh to kick-off working groups between the public and private sector, including NGOs, after targeting six crops for market potential. ...
Kali Kotoski and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/grow-asia-targeting-six-local-cash-crops
Snakehead fish farms to rely on animal carcasses
The Fisheries Administration submitted a proclamation on management measures for sustainable snakehead fish farming to the Ministry of Agriculture last week, a member of the Fisheries Administration confirmed yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/snakehead-fish-farms-rely-animal-carcasses
Ministry finishes valuing rice exporters
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has finished its evaluation of rice producers and processors that have registered to export milled rice to China, checking to see if they comply with the hygiene laws in China. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25397/ministry-finishes-valuing-rice-exporters/
UN helps ministries budget for climate change
As Cambodia continues its battle against raging thunderstorms and stifling droughts, officials from a variety of ministries attended a three-day workshop last week on how to incorporate the wide-ranging effects of climate change into the national and provincial budgeting process. ...
Jonathan Greig
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25133/un-helps-ministries-budget-for-climate-change/
Drought weighs on fishery production target
While Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries aims to increase fish production by 1.3 per cent this year, members of fishery organisations believe that is an unlikely target as drought conditions have tapped out natural resources. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/drought-weighs-fishery-production-target
Rice sector predicts a worrying trend
Although data for first four months of this year have shown a slight rise in rice exports, millers and exporters continue to raise concerns on the back of April’s rapid decline. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-sector-predicts-worrying-trend
Ministry sees export market growing
Cambodia’s total agricultural production was down slightly last year while a larger share of this production went to exports, the Ministry of Agriculture said in its annual report, released yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-sees-export-market-growing
Deforestation costs acknowledged
In a startling admission yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture finally acknowledged that the Kingdom’s forest cover has decreased rapidly over the past few decades, down from a high of 73 percent in 1965 to now, where only 49.5 percent of the country’s forests remain. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24876/deforestation-costs-acknowledged/
Government lifts decade-old Snakehead fish farming ban
The government has lifted a decade-old ban on snakehead fish farming following a request from the Ministry of Agriculture last month to once again allow farmers to breed the voracious fish, according to a statement dated Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-lifts-decade-old-snakehead-fish-farming-ban-112009/
Tons of fish found dead in tonle Chhmar lake
Tons of dead fish were found in the protected Tonle Chhmar Lake on Saturday, according to Ministry of Agriculture officials. The lake is a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Tonle Sap river in Kampong Thom’s Peam Bang commune. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24157/tons-of-fish-found-dead-in-tonle-chhmar-lake/
Ministry wants snakehead fish farms again
The Ministry of Agriculture will ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to lift a ban on snakehead fish farms to reduce reliance on foreign food sources and raise the income of farmers, officials said on Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-wants-snakehead-fish-farms-again-111619/
New protected forests test overstretched ministry
The nearly 1 million hectares of newly protected forests the Environment Ministry wants to create by the end of the year will add nearly a third more land to the portfolio of an agency already struggling to manage the 3.2 million hectares it has. And ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111001-111001/
‘Very slow’ ministers move out
The two ministers who were publicly scolded for their “very slow” work by Prime Minister Hun Sen in February both gave up control to their successors at a pair of handover ceremonies in Phnom Penh on Wednesday as part of a cabinet reshuffle approved by ...
Aun Pheap and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/very-slow-ministers-move-out-110957/
Tigers to be reintroduced to Cambodia in 2019
Eight tigers will be released into the Cambodian wild in an unprecedented plan projected to cost between $20 and $50 million, the Ministry of Agriculture and WWF-Cambodia announced at an event in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. ...
Kang Sothear and Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tigers-to-be-reintroduced-to-cambodia-in-2019-110954/
PM decides to protect 1 million hectares of forest
Prime Minister Hun Sen has agreed to legally protect nearly 1 million hectares of the Kingdom’s forest land, including the Prey Lang forest. Speaking during the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport’s annual meeting at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Mr. Hun Sen said he ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23482/pm-decides-to-protect-1-million-hectares-of-forest/
Gov’t asked to protect nearly 1 million hectares of forest
The Ministry of Environment has proposed the government establish nearly one million hectares of newly protected forest, an area that will include the Prey Lang forest, according to ministry spokesman Sao Sopheap. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23420/gov---t-asked-to-protect-nearly-1-million-hectares-of-forest/
More moves announced for cabinet reshuffle
Another four government officials will be promoted to senior secretarial positions in three ministries as part of the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, which Prime Minister Hun Sen claims will increase government efficiency, according to a letter to the president of the National Assembly last Friday. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23299/more-moves-announced-for-cabinet-reshuffle/
Armed soldiers storm forestry office to retake truck
A group of 10 armed soldiers stormed a Forestry Administration office in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday and attempted to seize a military truck that had been confiscated from them after they used it to transport illegal timber, leading to an hourslong standoff, officials said. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/armed-soldiers-storm-forestry-office-to-retake-truck-110515/
Fish exports down, income rises
Despite a decline in the amount of exports, income from the fisheries sector rose almost 30 percent last year compared with 2014. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23124/fish-exports-down--income-rises/
Reththy, agriculture ministry continue to squabble
The Ministry of Agriculture has rejected a request from private-sector rubber firms – led by agricultural tycoon Mong Reththy – for a meeting to discuss the floundering fortunes of the nation’s rubber sector, claiming the ministry was busy and was already addressing the issue. ...
Sor Chandara and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/reththy-agriculture-ministry-continue-squabble
Microfinance success stories from the countryside
When Chheung Rattana was married a few years ago, the only thing she and her new husband inherited from their families was a small plot of land to grow rice on. It was a tough start for the newlyweds, who decided that the only way ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22923/microfinance-success-stories-from-the-countryside/
Tractors prove steady sellers
Tractor sales continued to grow last year, driven by a shortage of labour in the agricultural sector and farmer cooperatives increasingly pooling their resources to buy farm equipment to serve their members. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tractors-prove-steady-sellers