Agriculture
Agricultural policy and administration
Big dip in illegal fishing: gov’t
Cambodian authorities intervened in far fewer illegal fishing cases last year compared with 2012, when Prime Minister Hun Sen first banned commercial angling nationwide in a bid to replenish waterways and aid small-scale fishermen. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which released an ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-dip-illegal-fishing-gov%E2%80%99t
Tough talk on ELCs
Economic land concessionaires not abiding by their contracts could have their licences revoked if they have seriously breached the terms, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said. Illegally seizing forest land would be punished under the Law on Forestry, he said on Friday, speaking at an annual ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tough-talk-elcs
In effeminate tones, Hun Sen lampoons opposition politicians
Prime Minister Hun Sen used the opening ceremony of a dam in Pursat province Thursday to act out a scene of biting political satire by pouring scorn on promises from the opposition CNRP to simultaneously reduce food prices in markets, while increasing prices paid to ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-effeminate-tones-hun-sen-lampoons-opposition-politicians-55131/
Government studying mollusc fishery in Kampong Chhnang province
The Cambodian Fisheries Administration has begun a one-year study of a mollusc fishery in Kampong Chhnang province, the Mekong River Commission says. Launched in February and financed by the MRC Fisheries Programme, the pilot study aims to assess the status of the snail and clam fishery ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGQwYzQ1Yjc3ZWY
Belarus minister to inaugurate tractor plant next week
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei is to attend the inauguration of a tractor assembly in Cambodia next week, according to the Belarusian Telegraphic Agency. “There are plans to discuss a wide range of issues of the bilateral agenda with the emphasis on the prospects of ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmI2MjQyOWVkMTI
Second death confirmed on Kompong Speu sugar plantation
A 44-year-old woman was run over and killed by a harvesting machine on Sunday while working on a sugarcane plantation in Kompong Speu province owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat, marking at least the second death on the plantation since December. Y Mom, originally from ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/second-death-confirmed-on-kompong-speu-sugar-plantation-54417/
Sugar exports to stay duty free, EU trade czar says
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said he has no plans to launch an investigation into Cambodia’s much-criticized sugarcane plantations after a meeting with Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Bottom line: Cambodia’s free trade benefits to Europe are safe for ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-exports-to-stay-duty-free-eu-trade-czar-says-54447/
Sugar on EU visit’s agenda
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will visit Cambodia this week, the European Commission announced, with rights groups hoping that land grabbing related to sugar plantations will be high on the agenda. Following bilateral meetings in Brussels last week between Cambodia and the EU during ...
Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sugar-eu-visit%E2%80%99s-agenda
Eighth EU-Cambodia Joint Committee concludes in Brussels
The 8th EU-Cambodia Joint Committee was held in Brussels on Thursday, preceded by the subgroups on development cooperation, on trade and on institution building, administrative reform, legal and judicial reform, governance and human rights, the European bloc said in a press release. The two sides ...
RTT News Staff
http://www.rttnews.com/2285917/eighth-eu-cambodia-joint-committee-concludes-in-brussels.aspx?type=gn&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=sitemap
Government-formed land dispute committee suspected of bias
The Kompong Chhnang provincial government has set up a new committee to help settle a long-running land dispute between local farmers and a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem, but a representative of the villagers has not been invited ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-formed-land-dispute-committee-suspected-of-bias-53851/
A refined approach?
Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/refined-approach
Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) Launched to Help Nation Reach Annual Rice Export Target of One Million Tons by 2015
Cambodia officially announced the creation of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) to improve competitiveness, promote trade, and increase investment in the rice sector, according to comments from the Prime Minister. Board elections are expected to take place Mrch 24 and the chairman is limited to ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/cambodia-rice-federation-crf-launched-help-nation-reach-annual-rice-export-target-one
Agriculture Ministry establishes 2 H5N1 ‘contamination zones’
The Ministry of Agriculture has created designated bird flu contamination zones in Phnom Penh and Kandal province following the deaths of hundreds of birds due to the H5N1 virus, officials said Wednesday. Agriculture Minister Ouk Rabon signed two directives late last month saying that poultry being ...
Khuon Narim and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/agriculture-ministry-establishes-2-h5n1-contamination-zones-53633/
New owners, old story
An existing moratorium on economic land concessions should be no impediment to pouring more cash into the Kingdom’s booming, and highly criticised, rubber trade, industry executives in the capital heard yesterday, as many current ELCs can simply be recycled to a new crop of investors. Ly ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-owners-old-story
Meeting on bitter sugar issues
An ad hoc committee comprised of representatives from the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce, provincial administrations and the sugar industry met again yesterday at the ministry’s headquarters to continue its discussion of issues faced by those displaced by sugar plantations. The committee touched upon topics ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/meeting-bitter-sugar-issues
NGO declares Coca-Cola’s visit compromised by police
Auditors from the Coca-Cola Company visited Oddar Meanchey province on Friday to investigate allegations of land grabbing against sugar plantations that supply the global drinks giant, but called off a community meeting because of a heavy police presence, an NGO said Sunday. Chun Bora of the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-declares-coca-colas-visit-compromised-by-police-53395/
Rice prices continue to fall
As buyers swoop in to purchase Thai rice at garage-sale prices, Cambodian exporters are dealing with lower than usual rates, and the results are being felt all the way down the supply chain to the farmers themselves. New figures from rice industry publication Oryza show that ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-prices-continue-fall
Environment minister visits UDG; Villagers disappointed
Environment Minister Say Sam Al failed to meet the villagers locked in a long-running land dispute with the Chinese-owned company Union Development Group (UDG) on Wednesday, despite visiting company officials in Koh Kong province, according to a rights worker and a provincial official. Mr. Sam Al ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/environment-minister-visits-udg-villagers-disappointed-53277/
UDG accused of farming instead of building
The Chinese-owned Union Development Group in Koh Kong province is bulldozing swaths of its land concession, originally intended for a massive tourist resort, to plant cassava and palm oil trees instead, a CNRP lawmaker-elect said Monday. Son Chhay, lawmaker-elect and CNRP chief whip, visited the area ...
Lauren Crothers and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/udg-accused-of-farming-instead-of-building-53164/
Kings of concessions
Vietnam and China lead the pack of foreign companies granted economic land concessions in Cambodia for agro-industrial development by a wide margin, new data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries show. According to the ministry’s annual report, released last month, since 1993 the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kings-concessions
Thai rice failure hitting Cambodia
While last year was full of good news for Cambodian rice exports, which hit a record-breaking 378,800 tons, 2014 is getting off to a much slower start. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s controversial pledge to pay farmers above market rates for their rice is coming ...
Chan Muy Hong and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/thai-rice-failure-hitting-cambodia
Agriculture insurance a hard sell
About a year after offering the country’s sole agriculture policy, Forte Insurance is struggling to sell coverage. “We still need time to get farmers to understand the benefits of agricultural insurance,” said Youk Chamroenrith, director and general manager of Forte. “We have four clients signed up ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/agriculture-insurance-hard-sell
Cambodia’s rice export in January down
Cambodia exported 21,536 tons of milled rice in January of 2014, down 4,190 tons (16%) compared to 25,726 tons exported in the same period of last year, according to a report on agriculture, forestry and fishery. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=Y2JjZWMwNzAwNDd
World Bank To Review Environmental Complaints Against Company
The World Bank says it will investigate reports from indigenous groups in Cambodia that a company funded by the bank’s International Finance Corporation is involved in deforestation and land grabs. The bank’s Office of the Compliance Adviser Ombudsman, or CAO, will first examine the credibility of ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/world-bank-to-review-environmental-complaints-against-company/1853122.html