News
El Niño raises drought fears
Cambodia is looking at a delayed onset of the rainy season, with experts and government officials having raised concerns of a prolonged dry season affecting agricultural production, as the Pacific weather pattern El Niño threatens to bring drought-like conditions. Ngin Chhay, director of the Rice Department ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/el-nino-raises-drought-fears
Program aims to boost rice resilience to climate change
As climate change increases the severity of droughts and floods across the Kingdom, a push is being made for farmers to adopt more resistant rice varieties. The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute launched a USAID-financed project in Phnom Penh yesterday in a bid to “accelerate the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/program-aims-boost-rice-resilience-climate-change
ELC earnings underwhelm
The Cambodian government earned about $80 million leasing economic land concessions and forests to private companies over the last three years, according to a report from the Ministry of Economy and Finance released last week. The January report, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, found that ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/elc-earnings-underwhelm
Timber by the numbers
Cambodia’s foremost logging baron exported more than 100,000 cubic metres of timber from Sihanoukville Port last year, likely including a species protected by an international treaty to which the Kingdom is a signatory, an analysis by Global Witness of leaked export records suggests. The data, obtained ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-numbers
NGO: Data shows ‘wholesale sell-off’
Cambodia should urgently disclose all information about land ownership and rethink its “wholesale sell-off” of the country’s natural resources, a local rights group said yesterday. The call to release information about Cambodia’s land sector, including a declaration of revenues, came as Licadho released an analysis of ...
Daniel Pye and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-data-shows-wholesale-sell
Ministry stamps out butts
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday cancelled an import permit for a Cambodian company after it came to light that “natural fertilizer” it had ordered from Ukraine was composed largely of cigarette butts, a ministry statement said. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ministry-stamps-out-butts
Port gives rice exporters a cut in storage costs
In a bid to ramp up rice exports to 1 million tonnes in 2015, the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port announced yesterday that rice stored in its warehouses would not be charge any fees for up to 18 days. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/port-gives-rice-exporters-cut-storage-costs
IFAD to pledge $52M for program
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) yesterday unveiled a $52 million plan to help Cambodia’s government develop policies to assist poor farmers to improve agricultural productivity. ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ifad-pledge-52m-program
NGO Global Witness hits back at ministry
The government’s apparent unwillingness to take seriously evidence of continued large-scale illegal logging orchestrated by the Try Pheap Group is “disappointing”, Global Witness said yesterday. A report released last week by the UK-based group titled The Cost of Luxury detailed evidence, collected during an eight-month covert ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-global-witness-hits-back-ministry
Claims by Global Witness rejected
Minister of Agriculture Ouk Rabun yesterday dismissed allegations of large-scale illegal timber smuggling by the Try Pheap Group published in a report by UK-based corruption monitor Global Witness last week. Global Witness’s report, The Cost of Luxury, identified Pheap, a prominent tycoon and former adviser to ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/claims-global-witness-rejected
Communities urge gov’t to rescind ELCs
Representatives of communities across the country who have had their lives upturned by development projects yesterday called on the government to rescind the economic land concessions at the centre of their disputes. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/communities-urge-govt-rescind-elcs
Communities urge gov't to rescind ELCs
Representatives of communities across the country who have had their lives upturned by development projects yesterday called on the government to rescind the economic land concessions at the centre of their disputes. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/communities-urge-govt-rescind-elcs
Out of the woods: Forest crime often goes unpunished
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries saw at least 2,400 cases of forest- and wildlife-related crimes in 2014, of which almost 1,800 were forwarded to the courts, though fewer than 10 people were sentenced in relation to the crimes, ministry figures say. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/out-woods-forest-crime-often-goes-unpunished
Ministry report outlines 2014 illegal logging figures
The government seized more than 7,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood last year, according to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-report-outlines-2014-illegal-logging-figures-76250/
Cambodia exports 387,100 tons of rice in 2014; up 2% from previous year
Cambodia has exported about 387,100 tons of rice in 2014, up about 2% from around 378,856 tons exported in 2013, according to local sources. About 62% of rice exports were destined to Europe, according to sources at the Ministry of Agriculture. ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/cambodia-exports-387100-tons-rice-2014-2-previous-year
Cambodia exports over 300,000 tons of rice in during January-October
Cambodia exported 304,788 tons of rice in first ten months of 2014, up from 294,154 tons exported in the same period last year, according to a report of Ministry Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/cambodia-exports-over-300000-tons-of-rice-in-during-january-october-7685
Farmers hope for rubber fix
Cambodia’s small rubber farmers are hoping a commitment to stabilise prices among rubber producing countries will help curb sliding profits in the sector. Industry representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and other rubber producing countries met in Malaysia last week to discuss what can be ...
Hor Kimsay and Daniel de Carteret
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/farmers-hope-rubber-fix
Livestock law near approval
A draft law on animal health and production is expected to be approved by the December 2015 Asean Economic Community (AEC) deadline, government officials say. Soun Sothoeun, deputy director of animal health and production at the Ministry of Agriculture, said on Friday that the new law ...
Chan Muyhong
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/livestock-law-near-approval
Logging crackdowns up 81 pct, gov’t says
A nine-month report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) shows that the number of illegal logging crackdowns increased 81 per cent – to 1,891 – compared with the same period last year, a spike one official attributed to a change in smugglers’ ...
Sen David and Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-crackdowns-81-pct-gov%E2%80%99t-says
China provides forestry equipment to Cambodia
The Chinese government has provided forestry equipment in equivalent to 4.1 million yuan (667, 200 U.S. dollars) to Cambodia for protecting and developing forest sector, officials said. ...
ASEAN-China Center News Staff
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2014-09/03/c_133617815.htm
Cassava farmers plead for gov’t help
Cassava farmers are calling on the government to standardise prices and help stabilise demand as the market for the root crop continues to prove risky for growers. Cassava exports totalled 226,000 tonnes in the first six months of the year, down 21 per cent from a ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cassava-farmers-plead-gov%E2%80%99t-help
Illegal fishing battle heats up
When authorities in Kampong Chhnang province on Friday encountered and pursued the boat of alleged illegal fisherman Chieb Ou, they couldn’t have expected to find themselves being chased instead. But that’s precisely what happened when, rather than surrendering, the 42-year-old suspect turned his boat towards the ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-fishing-battle-heats
Fine dining ups bird count
Over the past six months, 19 “vulture restaurants” have led to a slight rise in the number of the birds spotted in Cambodia, according to a recent Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report. Contrary to the name’s sound, the vultures aren’t the dish being served ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fine-dining-ups-bird-count
Companies regrow ‘forests’
More than 100,000 hectares of forest have been replanted across the country since 2008, according to a government report – but about 90 per cent of that amount can be chalked up to private plantations. Produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the report, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/companies-regrow-%E2%80%98forests%E2%80%99