Agriculture and fishing
Anti-Corruption Unit Arrests Staff at UK Biofuel Firm
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has arrested two employees of a local company linked to a British biofuel firm currently under investigation by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), an official said Friday. ACU President Om Yentieng said that International Green Energy (IGE) director Oum Samnang, and ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-corruption-unit-arrests-staff-at-uk-biofuel-firm-7972/
Disputed land to be returned to villagers
More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012160890/National/disputed-land-to-be-returned.html
Cambodia's rubber exports up 17 pct, revenues down 21 pct in 2012
Cambodia recorded a 17 percent rise in rubber latex exports in 2012; however, the revenues from the exports went down by 21 percent due to declining rubber prices in the international market, the government’s statistics showed Friday. The country had exported 54,530 tons of rubber latex ...
Ethnic groups becoming media-savvy
One hot day in June, 2009, Ven Samin, a member of the ethnic Suoy minority in Kampong Speu province, grabbed her digital camera and headed out of the house. The 44-year-old arrived at a collection of damaged rice paddies in Oral district and began taking photos. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860869/National/ethnic-groups-becoming-media-savvy.html
Mesco, Angkor to mine gold
Mesco Gold, an associated company of India-based Mesco Steel, will sign an agreement with Angkor Gold to mine the Phum Syrang prospect on one of its economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province. “We’ve been exploring the area since 2006. We’ve been drilling holes and there’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860848/Business/mesco-angkor-to-mine-gold.html
Rice Exports Slow Due to Millers Hoarding
Cambodia exported more than 200,000 tons of milled rice in 2012, the greatest yield on record, though well short of the government target to export 1 million tons by 2015. Speaking at the Ministry of Agriculture’s annual meeting in Phnom Penh, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said ...
Protesters blocked on the way to Phnom Penh
About 80 families travelling to Phnom Penh from Kampong Chhnang province for a land dispute-related protest yesterday were blocked on their way to the capital and told to resolve the matter locally. The villagers are locked in an unusual land feud with an agricultural firm, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011760831/National/protesters-blocked-on-the-way-to-phnom-penh.html
January's Salt harvest Destroyed by Rains
Heavy rainfall over the weekend has destroyed all the salt that was due to be harvested this month in Kep and Kampot provinces, farmers said yesterday. “The salt that we planned to harvest this week was completely destroyed because of heavy rain,” said Um Chon, chief ...
Forestry Officials Confirm Illegal Logging by Vietnamese Firm
During a joint investigation with police and military police last week, the Forestry Administration found evidence of large-scale illegal logging by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, officials said yesterday. ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods, P.18
http://cambodiadaily.com
Shipments of cargo increase by 7.3 per cent
Cargo shipments through Sihanoukville’s Deep Sea Port increased more than seven per cent year-on-year in 2012. Port officials say this growth is a result of Cambodia’s economic performance and an improving global economy. “It is a fast rate of growth compared with previous years. We had ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011660801/Business/shipments-of-cargo-increase-by-7-3-per-cent.html
Sugar company axes child labour
Rulling party Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company announced yesterday that it had amended its hiring policy to forbid contractors from employing children, while at the same time, opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua made public her plans to visit the company to investigate its ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011560790/National/sugar-company-axes-child-labour.html
Families say eviction forced
Hundreds of families in Ratanakkiri province have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene, saying local authorities in Bakeo district’s Laminh commune are illegally forcing them from their homes. Village representative, Ek Orm, 52, said that authorities were forcing villagers to relocate to make way for a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011460762/National/families-say-eviction-forced.html
Embattled villagers fight on
First, agricultural company DM group displaced them, now a recently arrived commercial farmer has threatened their lives and chased them off their new land, said representatives of 12 families engaged in a long-standing land dispute in Ratanakkiri province. On Wednesday, the 12 Tampuon ethnic minority families ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011160746/National/embattled-villagers-fight-on.html
Firm Compensates Jarai After Ruining Graves
A Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district yesterday agreed to pay $4,000 in compensation to an ethnic Jarai community whose traditional graveyard was bulldozed by the firm last week, local officials said. During a meeting at the Paknhai commune police station, representatives of the ...
Soldiers Keep watch over Broma Villagers
More than seven months after government security forces violently evicted hundreds of people living in Kratie province’s Broma village to quell a so-called secessionist movement, more than 70 families are still being prevented by patrolling soldiers from returning to the site of their former homes, ...
Victory claimed in land dispute
More than a month after halting construction around a disputed land concession in Ratanakkiri province, a Vietnam-based company has reportedly gone a step further and agreed to return 30 hectares of razed forest, a village representative and commune chief maintained yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/victory-claimed-land-dispute
Broken rice from Cambodia affects export
Exports of milled rice had fallen dramatically last year because of the poor quality of paddy rice, insiders said yesterday. Milled-rice producers told the Post that a large amount of paddy rice broke. From every 100 kilograms of paddy rice, 20 to 23 kilograms of milled rice ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010960686/Business/broken-rice-from-cambodia-affects-export.html
Kampot Pepper Farmers to see Bumper Year
When the harvest season for Kampot pepper starts next month, farmers in Kampot province expect this year’s crop to yield more than 17 percent above last year, a representative of the farmers said. Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Association, said last week that ...
Cambodia, China's Guangxi sign deal to cement agricultural cooperation
Cambodia and China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on strengthening bilateral communication and cooperation in agriculture. The deal was inked between Lord Reasmey, secretary-general of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, and Zhang Mingpei, director- general of Department of Agriculture of ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-01/08/c_132088306.htm
Forestry Officials Investigate Vietnamese Firm
Amid mounting calls for government intervention to stop the destruction of indigenous land by a Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, the Forestry Administration has begun investigating claims that the firm is logging illegally and clearing land outside of its concession, officials said ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods, P.19
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forestry-officials-investigate-vietnamese-firm-7450/
Adhoc Requests Cancellation of 2 Vietnamese Land Concessions
Rights group Adhoc has requested that the government cancel economic land concessions held by two Vietnamese companies in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, on the grounds that the firms are logging and exporting wood illegally. “Adhoc calls on the Royal Government of Cambodia to immediately cancel the ...
Cedac buys rice miller to boost imports
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, or Cedac, has built a $500,000 rice mill in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district in the hope of exporting more milled rice overseas, an official said yesterday. “We expect that in 2013, we would export between 200 tons and ...
With Election on the Horizon, Politicians Defend Land Policies
Cambodian politicians have begun a public campaign to defend their records on land policies, as they prepare for the run-up to July elections. Politicians from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, as well as the opposition Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, have said they will give ...
Cargos via Cambodia's city port up 17% in 2012
Cargos entering and leaving through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, Cambodia’s second largest port, increased by 17 percent in 2012 thanks to increasing import and export activities, a senior port official said Thursday. The state-owned port had received 95,333 twenty-foot-equivalent units, or standard-sized containers (TEUs) last year, ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-01/03/c_132077675.htm