Agriculture and fishing

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. ...

Taiwan Fertiliser Company, a Taiwanese manufacturer and seller of fertilisers and chemical products, intends to build a fertiliser factory in Preah Sihanouk province to supply the local market, a company representative said yesterday. ...

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 ...

Exports of fresh fish and fish products fell significantly during the first nine months of the year, raising concerns about businesses and families operating in the Kingdom’s fisheries sector.Fresh and frozen fish export shipments fell 21 per cent during the first nine months of the ...

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

Fish stocks in the Mekong River in Cambodia and the Vietnamese Delta could be halved if 11 planned hydropower dams go ahead, according to the preliminary results of an extensive study funded by the Vietnamese government. ...

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. ...

Rokar village empties during the dry season as the workforce migrates to find more gainful employment. But when the monsoon arrives, they return, not to fish as has traditionally been their staple income, but for a more lucrative trade: catching leeches.Chinese demand for the bloodsucking ...

An international study of the health of the world’s oceans compiled by more than 65 experts this week ranked Cambodia 179 of 221 countries surveyed, confirming the fragility of the Kingdom’s marine environment. ...

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.  ...

More than 200 fishing trawlers from Trat province are now docking and unloading their catches in Cambodia’s adjoining Koh Kong province to evade the strict regulations being enforced against unregistered. ...

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 ...

The ministry of Agriculture plans to establish five regional food safety inspection offices near the country’s borders to facilitate the flow of cross-border agricultural trade, reducing the time it takes Cambodian exporters to deliver shipments of agricultural products to foreign markets, a ministry official has ...

Vietnam has accused Thailand of violating international law after the shooting of four Vietnamese fishermen, one of whom was killed, by Thai maritime police in the Gulf of Thailand. ...

In the past, much of the produce sold in Siem Reap’s large indoor markets was imported from foreign countries. Now local initiatives are trying to change that. ...

Vietnamese rice has lower quality compared to rice of Thailand and Cambodia because Vietnamese farmers are using short day varieties, while Thai and Cambodian farmers mainly plant only one rice crop/year, with higher quality, safety and more competitive prices. ...

A “major breakthrough” has been reached in discussions between Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai and 11 indigenous communities in Ratanakkiri province that have lost land and resources to the company’s plantations. ...