Agriculture
Agricultural commodities, processing and products
Rubber plant opts for export
A local investor has spent nearly US$5 million setting up a rubber-processing factory in Kampong Cham, a key province in the Kingdom’s rubber production for export rather than producing final products, an insider says. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012122460430/Business/rubber-plant-opts-for-export.html
Jarai Call for Vietnamese Rubber Companies to Cease Logging
Representatives of an ethnic Jarai community in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, along with local human rights group Adhoc, have called on two Vietnamese rubber companies to cease the clearing of forests on their ancestral land and exporting the logs to Vietnam. The companies, Day Dong Yoeun ...
Families May Lose Farmland To Social Land Concessions
More than 100 families face the loss of their rice fields over a social land concession that was granted to the families of military veterans in Stung Treng province, local authorities and villagers said yesterday. Seven families, who depend on their rice and mango harvest in ...
Co-op scheme aims to boost farmers’ profits
An ambitions new agricultural development project backed by a former US diplomat is aiming to dramatically revamp the sector and bring profits back into the hands of farmers. Sichan Siv, a Cambodian with dual citizenship who spent five years serving as US ambassador to the UN, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121960368/National/co-op-scheme-aims-to-boost-farmers-profits.html
Cameras blocked by cops: CCHR
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights says that a company with a controversial economic land concession in Koh Kong province banned the centre’s officers from photographing the area and ordered police to grab their cameras. Officers from CCHR traveled to Sre Ambel district on December 14 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121960362/National/cameras-blocked-by-cops-cchr.html
PetChem sees healthy growth in 2013, eyes Myanmar, Cambodia
KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18) : Petronas Chemical Group Bhd (PetChem) said that its top and bottom line growth was going to be in “healthy mode” next year, with prices of its chemical products seen to be firming up. Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, its ...
Kreung Minority File Complaint Over Land Clearing
Ethnic minority Kreung villagers filed a complaint against commune level authorities on Saturday for allegedly accepting money from a businessman to clear their ancestral land for a new rubber plantation in Ratanakkiri province, local NGOs and villagers said. ...
Agricultural options eyed in Cambodia
Representatives from over 100 Cambodian and Vietnamese companies gathered in Phnom Penh to seek agricultural investment opportunities between the two countries. Participants listened to reports on trade and co-operation opportunities in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and seafood, delivered by representatives from both governments. They discussed Viet Nam’s ...
http://vietnamnews.vn/Agriculture/234150/agricultural-options-eyed-in-cambodia.html
Rice federation started
A NEW [sic] organisation for rice exporters was launched in Cambodia this weekend in an effort to transform the industry as it seeks to meet ambitious export targets. The Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters (FCRE) was inaugurated on Saturday, and says it will gain full authorization ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121760310/Business/rice-federation-started.html
Government Bank Gives Loan for Rice Milling
The government-backed Rural Development Bank has handed a $4.5 million loan to a company planning to invest in Cambodia’s efforts to export more milled rice. Rural Development Bank chairman Son Kuon Thor said yesterday that the bank was giving the loan to a new company ...
Jarai Accuse Officials of Pressure Over Private Land Titles
More than 250 ethnic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc yesterday, after local officials demanded that the villagers apply for private land titles to protect their property from two Vietnamese rubber companies currently clearing their land, ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jarai-accuse-officials-of-pressure-over-private-land-titles-6676/
Illegal-logging claims rejected
Provincial forestry administration officials in Ratanakkiri have dismissed allegations of illegal logging by community residents and chalked the deforestation up to legitimate clearing. A cursory examination of the land in question yesterday seemed to back the company’s claims, Ly Sophan, a team worker at the provincial ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/National/illegal-logging-claims-rejected.html
Rice Harvest to Yield Growth, Official Says
As Cambodia’s rice harvest gets into full swing, the government said yesterday that it expects this year’s crop to exceed last year’s, despite fears that drought would limit the yield. Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun said that farmers had already harvested more than 3 million tons ...
Alliance to disburse $2 million to buy paddy rice, help exports
The Alliance of Rice Producers Exporters of Cambodia (ARPEC) will release US$2 million after December 15th to its members in nine provinces so they can buy paddy rice before the harvest season ends and stocks been depleted. He said the pay out is being drawn from ...
Thai Rights Commission to Publish Report on Sugar Plantations
A final report from Thailand’s human rights commission on the alleged rights violations of a Thai company involved in two Cambodian sugar plantations is expected by late January, a member of the commission said. In July, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand said its investigation ...
Idemitsu, Cambodia sign biofuel production deal
Idemitsu Kosan Co. said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cambodian government to promote biofuel production in the Southeast Asian country. The move is part of plans by the Japanese energy firm to produce bioethanol out of cassava, a type of potato, ...
Ethnic group press for communal title
Economic land concessions granted to a pair of Vietnamese companies in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district were endangering the traditional lifestyles of as many as 200 ethnic-minority families, villagerstold the Post yesterday. As the companies actively cleared forest to make room for the eventual rubber plantations, the government ...
Cambodia's salt output may decrease
The Kep-Kamport Salt Producers Community expressed concern about the production of salt this year not reaching its forecast due to the late-starting season and the lack of labour to work in the fields. Um Chhun, director of the administration office in Kep-Kamport Salt Producers Community, said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012121060176/Business/salt-output-may-decrease.html
Hun Sen Tells Ratanakkiri’s Minorities Their Future Is Rubber
On the second day of his two-day visit to Ratanakkiri, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday cajoled indigenous minority members about their ready adoption of new technology amid the shift away from traditional ways of life, and extolled the benefits of rubber plantations over their ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-tells-ratanakkiris-minorities-their-future-is-rubber-6519/
Cambodia Sees Opportunity for US Investment in Agriculture
Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh sees great potential for US companies that want to invest in agriculture, where he says they can do legitimate business relatively free from the graft as Cambodia makes anti-corruption headway. Cham Prasidh was in Washington last week, where he and other ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-least-competitive-in-region-on-global-index/1559776.html
Report on Worldwide Land Grabbing Zeroes In on Cambodia
A new report on land grabbing around the world highlights Cambodia as a prime example of the ill effect of the growing global appetite for farmland by industrial scale operations. Released Wednesday in Stockholm by three Swedish NGOs, The Race for Land offers Cambodia as one ...
Two More Families Drop Sugar Suit for Cash Payout
CPP Senator and business tycoon Ly Yong Phat has convinced to more families in Koh Kong province to take a cash payout in exchange for dropping out of a lawsuit involving two local sugarcane plantations he once co-owned, official said. More that 200 families in Sre ...
Labour shortage vexes farmers in Pailin province
Farmers in Pailin province have complained about a shortage of workers during this year’s corn and cassava harvesting season. Meas Loeun, team leader of Momean Moy community’s 38 teams in Pailin, said the shortage of workers to help harvest corn and cassava is a major challenge ...
Low China demand may keep local rubber prices down until 2015
Cambodia’s rubber price is expected to fall further in coming years while government projects aimed at doubling rubber resin production will take effect by 2015, according to the latest figures from the Rubber General Department. Mak Kimhong, president of the Cambodia Rubber Association and owner of ...