Agriculture and fishing

Cambodia’s beleaguered rubber industry looks set for a turnaround as international rubber prices continue their strong rebound. Local traders and industry officials said yesterday they were optimistic that rubber prices, which doubled during the course of 2016, would continue to rise as the global economy ...

Cambodian farmers may be able to cut export costs from the middle of the year if an agreement is signed letting them send their produce through the Thai port of Laem Chabang. ...

Construction of a $100 million dam project and the largest reservoir in Battambang province is 98 percent complete and scheduled to be finished before Khmer New Year in April. ...

In just over a month since the creation of a special task force to curb illegal fishing on the Tonle Sap lake, the Agriculture Ministry says it has already dealt with thousands of offenses. ...

Ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district filed a complaint against Chinese sugar company Rui Feng on Tuesday after a long-simmering land dispute almost erupted into violence last week. ...

The government has removed the fee for inspection services on milled rice slated for export, aiming to reduce the cost of Cambodia’s rice and increase its competitiveness in international markets. ...

Two rice millers, which had passed initial inspections, were deemed ineligible to export rice to China after failing quality and food hygiene tests applied by Chinese experts. ...

Cambodians can expect up to 14,000 tons of fish caught from the Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers this year, a 5,000 ton increase compared with last year, which will be sufficient to meet all local demand, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ...

An Agriculture Ministry official said on Sunday that slowing growth in Cambodian milled rice exports—increasing just 0.7 percent last year—was the result of outdated policies and was a concerning trend. ...

Kampot pepper prices are set to remain stable for another year as part of an agreement between local producers that caps prices through the end of 2017, a representative of the pepper association said yesterday. ...

Four companies have responded to a government tender for a project to develop a mammoth rice storage and processing facility in Battambang province, a bank executive said yesterday. ...

Representatives of 175 families in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel and Botum Sakor districts have released their final demands to end their 10-year land dispute with Koh Kong Sugar Industry (KSI) and Koh Kong Plantation. The families are asking for two hectares of land to be ...

Cambodia’s milled rice exports only grew by a dismal 0.7 percent last year compared with 2015 and this was the lowest since 2014, according to government figures released yesterday. “Last year Cambodia only exported 542,144 tons of milled rice and the lowest exports were in the ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday repeated his claims that forest crimes and land disputes sparked by sprawling commercial farms run by wealthy businessmen and foreign corporations had decreased or were mostly over, claims that rights groups dispute.​ ...

A Kampong Speu community is looking to raise money to build three watering holes for wildlife, especially the endangered banteng, for the upcoming hot season after a nearby sugarcane plantation allegedly filled in existing streams. ...

Geographical indication (GI) status for Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar has been accepted in Vietnam. The agreement gives legal protection to both products and stops unscrupulous traders in Vietnam passing off local produce as Cambodian. The deal was reached last Wednesday after negotiations involving the ...

Nearly 50 families from a village in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town yesterday protested to demand that a private utilities company stop restricting water supply in their area because they didn’t have enough water to drink and irrigate their crops. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng has publically warned government officials in the areas surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake that they will be fired if they continued to allow illegal fishing.Speaking at the closing ceremony of the “2016 Annual Working Results and the Direction of 2017” at ...

Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin, the Kingdom’s top authority in charge of resolving land disputes, slammed the Ministry of Agriculture over “shameful” irregularities in granting economic land concessions at the Environment Ministry’s annual meeting yesterday.During yesterday’s meeting, Chhin accused the Ministry of Agriculture of granting ...

Eighteen local rice export companies are now eligible to carry out milled rice exports to China starting from next month, according to an announcement released on Monday by the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF). The announcement added that the CRF and the Green Trade Company – under ...

Eight provinces experienced flooding yesterday, according to a disaster management official, with hectares of farmland also left damaged as unseasonal heavy rains continue to whip the country. ...

Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon yesterday defended his ministry amid complaints by farmers of low yields during dry season, rising costs of production and a lack of markets to sell their produce, saying that other ministries and sectors also shared responsibility. ...

Export of Cambodia’s fish decreased in the first 11 months of 2016 compared with the same period last year, despite the yield of inland and marine fish seeing an increase, a ministry report said. According to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and ...

In recent years, communities displaced by sugar plantations have attempted to reclaim their land by targeting the plantations’ investors and buyers overseas, but a study published last week in the peer-reviewed Journal of Civil Society suggests such efforts may disappoint. ...