Agriculture and fishing

A four-month government campaign has exposed 730 cases of illegal fishing on Tonle Sap lake. Noa Thuok, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, said 30 people have been sent to court so far as a result of the inter-ministerial crackdown, which began in December. ...

Cambodian rice exports declined dramatically in March, causing the average export growth of the Kingdom’s dominant cash crop to increase by only 3 percent during the first quarter of this year, nearly wiping out the double-digit growth seen in January and February. ...

Record low temperatures and unseasonable rainfall over the past week were a glimpse into the potential, intensifying effects of climate change in Cambodia, experts said, a phenomenon that studies suggest could seriously hinder future agricultural productivity through flooding, unpredictable rains and warming of up to ...

Khmer New Year could bring a fruitful financial harvest for sellers of bananas—this year’s divinely selected crop—but some vendors say their sales have not yet ripened.Bananas were selected as this year’s official product by the angel Kemera Devi, who brings in the new year, so ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday he had urged Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to invest more heavily in Cambodia’s rice sector, while also acknowledging the need to lower rice processing costs and find new export markets to boost the competitiveness of Cambodia’s most important ...

Experts from the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) inspected Chinese-owned Rui Feng sugar company’s factory this week after suspicions that its runoff had caused last month’s mass fish deaths in Preah Vihear. ...

Experts in the rice sector have expressed their fears over the ban in exporting milled rice containing the chemical Tricyclazole to the European Union (EU), while the government is trying to educate and spread word of the ban to farmers.   ...

Amid concerns that the European Union could reject shipments of Cambodian rice, exporters are pushing for more access to China as an alternative market for the Kingdom’s principal agricultural commodity. ...

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected the request of five families from Koh Kong province to nullify the deals they made seven years ago to give up their land to a local sugarcane plantation on the grounds that they were coerced. ...

The Preah Sihanouk province land management committee is in the process of issuing land titles for 82 families in a recently converted forest area, as well as from an economic land concession (ELC) belonging to the Mong Reththy Group. ...

Cambodian farmers are mixing pesticides to increase their potency in ways that are known to be hazardous, but increased knowledge of the hazards presented by pesticides does not appear to curb their use, a new study shows. ...

Rubber prices are predicted to increase gradually as suppliers in the main producing countries restrict their stock for export to let the price recover after a long decline.   ...

Though the export of cassava from Cambodia to foreign markets increased by more than 50 percent in 2016, compared with previous years, export earnings were still low due to below-market-prices offered by buyers in Thailand and Vietnam.   ...

The banana is Cambodia’s national fruit and makes an excellent after-meal dessert. But its popularity extends further than just being a sweet fruit. Due to its affordable price, it’s also food for the poor and can be used regularly as offerings to the spirits or ...

The European Union is expected to enter Kampong Speu palm sugar into its registry of protected geographical indicators (GI) by July following a push by the Cambodian government to protect the specialty food product in one of its biggest markets, a Ministry of Commerce official ...

The Environment Ministry is studying water samples from Preah Vihear province to find out what has been killing thousands of fish in the Stung Sen River, where villagers are reportedly blaming a sugarcane plantation. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) on Monday announced it will ban all imports and agricultural pesticides containing the fungicide Tricyclazole in response to the strict new Maximum Result Limit set by the European Commission. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture is working to develop a procedural framework for the trade and use of biological control agents (BCAs) in agriculture in an effort to improve crop yields, protect consumer health and ensure continued access to key export markets. Regulation could also create ...

The Commerce Ministry has threatened to take unspecified legal “measures” against anyone joining a protest against a sugarcane plantation who does not have a personal claim in the dispute.​   ...

A long-running land dispute between 175 Koh Kong farmers and two sugarcane firms accused of stealing their land came a step closer to conclusion on Thursday after 73 of the farming families accepted compensation, a government official said.   ...

Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar have been awarded Geographical Indication (GI) status in Thailand, under efforts to prevent unscrupulous traders passing off versions of the Cambodian products.   ...

Confirel Co. Ltd. and Pharma Product Manufacturing Enterprise will unveil its $7 million factory in Phnom Penh to process Kampong Speu palm sugar and Kampot pepper by July, the company said. ...

A group of 20 people representing 554 families locked in a 10-year land dispute yesterday submitted a petition asking the government to end the lengthy conflict.   ...

The public has been warned not to eat pork from Vietnam after an outbreak of a serious disease in pig farms across the border. The Agriculture Ministry’s department of animal health and production is enforcing additional precautionary measures to ensure contaminated pork from Vietnam does not ...