Agriculture
Agricultural production
Families call for chief’s ouster over land sale
More than 160 families in Banteay Meanchey province’s O’Chrou district filed a complaint on Monday with local officials calling for the removal of their village chief, whom they blame for the loss of 835 hectares of farmland to a rubber plantation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-call-for-chiefs-ouster-over-land-sale-79881/
Battambang residents protest over land redistribution plans
About 70 villagers representing hundreds of families living in Battambang City’s Prek Preah Sdech commune protested outside the provincial hall Tuesday over fears that local authorities intend to evict them to make way for military families. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/battambang-residents-protest-over-land-redistribution-plans-79474/
Villagers spurn firm’s ‘gifts’
A plantation company with its sights set on a community forest long used by local ethnic minority Jarai in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district arranged a meeting with more than 200 villagers this week to try to persuade them to sign over the woodland. Representatives of the Heng ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/villagers-spurn-firms-gifts
Plantations lose land for encroaching on farms
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday said that more than 9,000 hectares granted to companies as economic land concessions (ELCs) were recently taken back from the owners because local villagers had been farming the land first, and announced that 14 companies had been put ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/plantations-lose-land-for-encroaching-on-farms-79364/
Major tycoons added to concessions watchlist
Fourteen companies have been added to a Ministry of Environment watchlist for purportedly failing to live up to their investment promises. The companies include firms owned by some of the country’s wealthiest and most politically connected land barons, such as Mong Reththy and Sok Kong. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/major-tycoons-added-concessions-watchlist
Developer sparks another dispute over wall
Families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district have been protesting since Friday against wealthy businessman Khun Sear’s plan to build a brick wall that will effectively block access to their village. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/developer-sparks-another-dispute-over-wall-79360/
Government: over 14,000 hectares of land cut off to hand over to people in Koh Kong, Preah Vihear provinces
Environment Minister, Say Sam Al, said on Monday that the Royal Government of Cambodia has cut off over 14,000 hectares of land and handed over to citizens, and military forces. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://bit.ly/1AZj6oE
Lawmaker orders photos, video of event erased
Villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, the site of a proposed hydropower dam opposed by most of the local ethnic minority Chong, say police deleted their photos and video of a visit by CPP lawmaker Ay Khorn on Friday to promote the project’s potential ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-orders-photos-video-of-event-erased-79296/
Activist scion claims firms broke rules
Almost three years after his father’s sudden killing, the son of late forest activist Chut Wutty has returned from a fact-finding mission to Ratanakkiri province, where he identified four companies as having stockpiled luxury timber on a large scale. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/activist-scion-claims-firms-broke-rules
Prahok put to the quality test
Cambodia will introduce a much-needed national quality standard for dried snakehead fish, frozen shrimp, and its fish paste, known as prahok, in a bid to improve consumer-safety requirements and boost exports of the products. Kao Sochivy, deputy director general of Fisheries Departments, told the Post yesterday ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/prahok-put-quality-test
Port gives rice exporters a cut in storage costs
In a bid to ramp up rice exports to 1 million tonnes in 2015, the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port announced yesterday that rice stored in its warehouses would not be charge any fees for up to 18 days. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/port-gives-rice-exporters-cut-storage-costs
Hydropower dam puts a way of life at risk
In the heart of the Areng Valley, on the edges of the rolling Cardamom Mountains, an old Bodhi tree pierces the thick green canopy. At its base, nestled in between its hanging roots, sits a ramshackle altar of tin and timber for the spirit of ...
Zsombor Peter and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hydropower-dam-puts-a-way-of-life-at-risk-78844/
Overloaded Try Pheap Trucks Stopped in Kratie; 11 Others Escape
Authorities in Kratie province moved to stop a convoy of trucks belonging to tycoon Try Pheap overloaded with first-grade timber on Sunday, but were only able to pull over five of the vehicles, which were found to be carrying nearly double the amount of cargo ...
‘I will come back,’ says deported activist
Referring to Cambodia as “my country”, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, a vocal environmental activist and Spanish national who was deported Monday, yesterday vowed to return and continue his struggle to save the Areng Valley. ...
Sean Teehan and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/i-will-come-back-says-deported-activist
Preah Sihanouk communities protest over land conflicts
About 100 villagers representing 19 communities in Preah Sihanouk province marched to the provincial hall in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, demanding intervention in their land disputes. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-sihanouk-communities-protest-over-land-conflicts-78627/
PM threatens use of rockets in Areng valley
The day after the government deported a foreign activist opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday invited activists in the valley to secede from Cambodia, but warned that rocket launchers could be deployed if ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-threatens-use-of-rockets-in-areng-valley-78609/
Villagers speak up as reservoir plan digs into their rice fields
Villagers in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday protested against a local military official’s plan to build a reservoir on their land, then sell the dirt at a profit. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-speak-up-as-reservoir-plan-digs-into-their-rice-fields-78502/
Gov’t spokesman says Licadho doctored land dispute report
fter rights group Licadho released a statement Thursday saying that more than 10,000 Cambodian families were newly affected last year by land disputes in the 13 provinces where it has monitors—a three-fold increase from 2013—a government spokesman on Friday slammed the NGO’s report as “baseless ...
Kuch Naren and Emily Townsend
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-spokesman-says-licadho-doctored-land-dispute-report-78470/
Land disputes surge: Licadho
The number of families newly affected by land disputes last year was three times that of 2013, according to figures documented by local rights group Licadho. In a statement released yesterday, the group “strongly expresse[d] its concern” at the surge in disputes, noting that in 2014 ...
Alice Cuddy and Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-disputes-surge-licadho
Families affected by land disputes in Cambodia tripled in 2014: rights group
A surge in land disputes in Cambodia affected more than three times as many families last year as in 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, urging Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to address the issue with “long-term lasting solutions” instead of making empty promises. Rights ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/families-02192015114159.html
Lawmakers ask ministry to halt UDG eviction
Parliament’s Human Rights Commission has asked the Ministry of Justice to suspend a court verdict that could see 20 Koh Kong families, who are holding out against giant Chinese firm Union Development Group, lose their homes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lawmakers-ask-ministry-halt-udg-eviction
Beverage companies wary of ‘blood sugar’ in supply chain
Two major US beverage companies say they are mindful of alleged human rights abuses amid sugar plantations in Cambodia and will not do business with those proven to be involved in them. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi both said in emails to VOA Khmer that they ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beverage-companies-wary-of-blood-sugar-in-supply-chain/2647451.html
Cambodia exporters target to double fragrant organic rice exports in 2015
Currentlt, CEDAC exports fragrant organic rice to the U.S. and Hong Kong. But is exploring export opportunities to Arab countries as well. According to the CEDAC’s organic rice Export Officer, though the price of organic rice is higher, prices are much stable in the international ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/cambodian-rice-exporters-target-double-fragrant-organic-rice-exports-2015
Myanmar, Cambodia seek investors for rice business
Two Southeast Asian countries not particularly known for large agricultural exports, Myanmar and Cambodia, have both declared that they want to participate in the global rice business by intensifying rice farming and milling across their respective countries with the help of foreign investors, including from ...
Arno Maierbrugger
http://www.gulf-times.com/eco.-bus.%20news/256/details/426906/myanmar,-cambodia-seek-investors-for-rice-business