News
Farmers say officials displaced their jobs
About 20 families in Koh Kong province are accusing provincial authorities and military police of blocking them from farming on land that is part of a dispute with a Chinese development firm stretching back almost five years. The rice farms are in Botum Sakor district, which ...
Authorities Seize Excavators Constructing Illegal Reservoirs
Kompong Thom provincial military police confiscated 29 excavators and arrested four drivers in a four-day operation ending yesterday aimed at stopping the illegal construction of reservoirs around the Tonle Sap lake, officials said. The reservoirs, which are used to retain water for use in dry-season farming, ...
Villagers in Land Dispute Protest Against Firm
More than 100 villagers involved in a land dispute with an import-export company in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district protested Sunday against the firm’s alleged attempts to stop them from farming the area, officials and villagers said. Meas Sarin, one of the protesters, said that about ...
Cashew nut harvest likely to decline
As the end of this year’s cashew harvest nears, the yield in two major producing provinces has fallen compared with last year, officials and farmers said, while traders said that the price of the nuts had also dropped since last year. In Kompong Cham province, this ...
EU Launches Food Security Program Aimed at Minorities
The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in ...
Farmers with HIV/AIDS Gain Confidence, Skills With Program
Leng Sopheap used to wake up before the crack of dawn and walk with crates of vegetables from her farm to the nearby market underneath a blanket so her neighbors wouldn’t know they were buying produce from someone infected with HIV/AIDS. Not long after her ...
Thais ask Cambodia to curb cassava exports
Thai cassava farmers have asked Cambodia to stop exporting the commodity into Thailand in an attempt to keep prices high and avoid saturating the market, officials said yesterday. Sao Sarat, Pailin provincial cabinet chief, said that Thai government officials representing local cassava farmers met with Pailin ...
Dwindling water supplies put dry-season rice haul in danger
Dry-season rice farmers in some areas west of the Tonle Sap River and in eastern provinces are appealing to the government for help as the reservoirs they rely on for irrigation are drying up faster than usual, farmers and officials said yesterday. Officials at the ministries ...
Oversupply leads to a fall in pork prices
Pig prices in Cambodia have fallen by 18 percent in the past three months due to a massive oversupply of pork in the country, an official at the Cambodian Pig Raisers Association said yesterday. The reason for the oversupply is twofold: Thailand increased its pig exports ...
Farming group to quadruple organic production
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) said yesterday that it plans to raise its annual production of organic vegetables from 120 tons to 600 tons by the end of 2015. Lim Sokun Darun, program coordinator at Cedac, said that the decision to ...
Damages from mine to cost at least $4m
The government said yesterday that a gold mine in Kompong Cham province that has damaged about 1 square km of land with chemical waste would cost at least $4 million to clean up. Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh on revenue transparency, Sim Sisokhaly, director ...
Croc skins new focus for farmers
Crocodile farmers in Siem Reap are turning away from the export of hatchlings to Vietnam, choosing instead sell the reptiles for their skins. Luon Nam, president of the province’s Crocodile Feeding Association, said yesterday the reliance on Vietnam was an unsustainable strategy for the industry. Any change ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122853645/Business/croc-skins-new-focus-for-farmers.html
Controversial dam: Thailand not objecting to Xayaburi
Thailand will not object to the proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos, but Vientiane must shoulder responsibility for potential environmental damage caused by the US$3.8 billion project, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday. “Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao ...
Nonperforming microloans swell due to floods
Total outstanding loans in the microfinance sector reached $815.47 million in the third quarter, a 25.8 percent rise compared to beginning of the year, according to data released yesterday by the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) Despite growth in the sector, microfinance institutions said nonperforming loans were ...
Agriculture minister pushes for pig imports
The Minister for Agriculture yesterday appealed to buyers to address the shortage of pigs in Phnom Penh by applying for licenses that would allow them to import more livestock from neighbouring countries. An industry representative and a market expert, however, warned of the potential fallout that ...
Villagers Face Hefty Court Fees in Land Dispute
Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has ordered 40 families embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the wife of Minister of Industry Suy Sem to pay court fees of up to $155 each, or have their complaints dropped. The villagers, however, say they are too poor ...
Crocodile Farmers Plagued by Volatile Market
Crocodile farmers are feeling the pinch after a year of volatile crocodile prices and market demand. Despite the spike in crocodile prices late last year – which followed on the heels of worrying lows between 2005 and 2007 – demand for the live exports of ...
B Meanchey Land Dispute Families File Objection
Businessmen Tuy Vanny and Seth Rin are embroiled in a land dispute with 50 families have had an objection filed against their allowing others to farm the land. The right to farm the land was only granted on July 7 to Mr. Vanny and Mr. ...
Company Illegally Cleared Land, Villagers Say
So Chanthou Company has been accused of illegally clearing 290 hectares and removing 84 families in Banteay Meanchey province. The families who are predominately rice farmers are said to have been on the land since 1996 and have complained about So Chanthou Company to the ...
Farmers Look to Cassava for Its High Prices
The number of farmers growing cassava in Cambodia has increased with the land dedicated to its cultivation having been doubled this year. Floods in Thailand resulted in a drop in availability increasing demand and as a result prices. 294,359 hectares of cassava have been planted ...