Agriculture

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. ...

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 ...

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។ ...

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. ...

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 ...

In the small village of Lengean in Kampong Cham, you can still make out the acronym CVRDT carved into an old concrete well. ...

Several hundred villagers protested outside the Kampong Speu Provincial Hall yesterday, demanding the return of thousands lost to economic land concessions (ELCs) in a years-old land dispute with a Chinese company and a prominent tycoon. ...

Farmers hit by drought in Battambang this year are already benefitting from a new crop insurance product for rice farmers introduced by Forte Insurance, with at least 60 families in two districts of the country’s main rice-growing province collecting payments so far. ...

Once thought to be a problem that affected only rural areas, arsenic poisoning from tainted food could affect Cambodian cities such as Phnom Penh as well, according to research into rice and fish cultivated in Kandal province. ...

Cambodia has declined to join the world’s largest rubber production group, the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), because there is no benefit in doing so now, a senior official and an industry executive say.  ...

Persisting dry conditions have affected approximately 234,695 hectares of rice seedlings in 16 Cambodian provinces and cities, according to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday expressed concern about agricultural productivity in the rainy season, as the rains so far this year have been worryingly scarce. ...

Depending on the season, organic vegetable farmer Sem Chantha could be growing spinach, cauliflower, lettuce or collard greens on her six-hectare plot of land in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province. The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) supports Cambodian farmers with training and ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation on Wednesday announced strict penalties for exporters who mix Cambodian rice with low-quality rice from other countries after receiving complaints that some exporters have been using the method to increase profits. ...

Cambodia exported 369,105 tonnes of milled rice in the first nine months of 2015 — a 37 percent rise over the same period last year, according to a report on Wednesday. ...

Producers of Kampot pepper have positioned the spice as a high-end product and are working to add value to the internationally recognised brand by ensuring that only the highest quality peppercorns make it to market.Ngoun Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), said ...