Young chief vs the system
Tek Nim is well versed in dealing with adversity. In year nine, she dropped out of school, began working on the family farm and finally became resigned to the belief that her brightest prospect was to leave Omlaing commune, in Kampong Speu province’s Thpong district, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070357164/National-news/young-chief-vs-the-system.html
Sweet deal
Stevia Nutra Corporation, a Canadian agro-business company, has announced its decision to grow stevia in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province. The company will grow the plant, whose leaves are used as a sweetener or sugar substitute, on just over 20 hectares of land close to Phnom Penh. Stevia Nutra has incorporated Mighty MekongAgro Industries Co. Ltd, ...
Koh Kong dispute gets fresh hearing
The Koh Kong Provincial Court summonsed 23 villagers from Chikor Leu commune to present themselves – and any relevant documents – at a July 12 hearing with representatives of the two sugar companies that bulldozed their farmland and evicted them from their homes in 2006. ...
Puma Factory Reaps Rewards Of Paying for Workers’ Meals
A factory supplying shoes for German sports brand Puma has experienced no mass faintings and seen overall productivity improve since it started providing meals to its workers last year, a Puma representative and a factory official said yesterday. Workers at Huey Chuen (Cambodia) Corp. Ltd. in ...
Protesters Forgo Roadblock, Distribute Petitions
Villagers in Koh Kong province involved in a long-running land dispute with two sugar cane plantations linked to CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat handed out petitions to passing motorists along National Road 48 demanding their land back. It was a change of pace for the villagers, ...
International interest in Cambodian sugar
Sweet news for Cambodian palm-sugar farmers: 10 international companies are keen to import their produce, one of the Kingdom’s signature products. Sam Saroeun, president of the Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Promotion Association, said that after an exhibition in South Korea earlier this month, several international importers ...
Protesters End Roadblock Empty-Handed
Srey ambel district, Koh Kong province – A roadblock by locals in a long-running land dispute with CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat petered out after several hours in the dying rain on Saturday without the protesters winning any concessions from either the senator’s firm or ...
Five Villagers Questioned in Ly Yong Phat Land Dispute
About 150 villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute with CPP Senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat protested peacefully outside the Kompong Speu Provincial Court yesterday as five villagers were questioned over accusations that they are illegally occupying the senator’s land. The villagers, from Thpong district’s ...
Clash with sugar firm puts villagers in court
Kampong Speu provincial court issued summonses yesterday to five villagers from Thpong district’s Omlaing commune, who are involved in a long-standing land dispute with Cambodia People’s Party senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar company. ...
National products chase GI recognition
A lack of funds would prevent Cambodia registering some of the country’s specialty products as geographic indications (GI), a form of international recognition that has boosted the sales of other domestic products such as Kampong Speu palm sugar. The government would like to see Siem Reap ...
Commander Says Prosecutor Deployed Troops
Armed troops that were deployed last month to quell a land dispute protest outside the Kompong Speu Provincial Court were ordered to do so by a court prosecutor, a commander in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) said yesterday. On Feb. 9, a detachment of ...
Certification Quandry Stunts Sugar Exports
In April 2010, Kampot Pepper and Kompong Speu palm sugar both gained a geographical indication (GI) from the Ministry of Commerce that recognized their unique qualities and protected their name. But while Kampot pepper producers export almost all of their 17-ton annual production at high ...
Pailin Looks to Put Longan Fruit on GI Map
Pailin’s juicy longans, a small beige-colored fruit renowned for its sweet taste, is on the way to becoming Cambodia’s third food product to attain Geographic Indicator (GI) status. The longan will join Cambodia’s only other GI-recognized food products: Kompong Speu palm sugar and Kampot ...
Cash crop deal to aid Kingdom
A Malaysian firm on Saturday signed a joint agricultural agreement with property development company Paragon Corporation Cambodia worth a potential US$2 billion in exports of corn, rubber, coffee and other cash crops. Penned by Paragon Corporation Cambodia and Markmore Group Malaysia, the joint development project will ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101752151/Business/cash-crop-deal-to-aid-kingdom.html
Cambodia's special economic zones waiting for foreign investments
PHNOM PENH — Eight out of Cambodia’s 19 special economic zones (SEZ) are being operational across the country, while the rest are still waiting for both local and foreign investors, the data from Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed on Saturday. The statistics showed that ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2011-09/05/c_131100346.htm
'Land Grabs' Mar Cambodia's Boom, Rattle Investors
Phnom Penh–Kong Song’s farmland was his family’s livelihood for three decades until the bulldozers moved in and tore down his home in rural Cambodia to make way for a multimillion dollar foreign-led business. His family was one of 253 forcibly evicted five years ago in southern ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/01/cambodia-evictions-idUSL3E8JD2DV20110901
Tax-Free Trade Access Will Stay, Says EU
The European Union has said that it has no plans to suspend Cambodia’s duty-free trade access even though there have been concerns over land evictions as a result of economic land concessions. The EU is seeking that human rights are not the cost of trade ...
Planned Multimillion-Dollar Sugar Plantation Suspended
Mong Reththy Group has suspended a $115 million sugar plantation project that has been three years in the works, CPP Senator Mong Reththy said yesterday. According to Mr Reththy, the suspension is due to “internal” issues facing the French partner in the project, Groupe Sucres ...
CPP Senator’s Sugar Plantation Land Dispute Case Goes to Trial
Describing a 5,000-hectare land dispute between Koh Kong villagers and a sugar company owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Pgat as “a complicated case,” Koh Kong Provincial Court has decided to try it before a three-judge panel, a lawyer for the villagers said yesterday. The ...
Concessions Affect 3,000 Families, Adhoc Says
According to human rights group Adhoc, five agro-farming concessions granted to Chinese firms are adversely affecting 3,000 families in Preah Vihear province. The concessions have come with warnings of possible land disputes and potential protests. Prime Minister Hun Sen granted the economic land concessions to ...
The ‘King of Koh Kong’ speaks out
Senator Ly Yong Phat, owner of the Phnom Penh Palm Sugar and Kampong Speu Sugar companies, has released a statement as a result of US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks that describe him as “The King of Koh Kong”. He answers such questions as why ...
Sugar concerns raised
Rights groups have alleged that villagers are being pushed off their land to make way for sugar plantations by companies such as LYP Group, owned by Senator Ly Young Phat. The issue was raised with the Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomuoja and the Minister for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011070850275/National-news/sugar-concerns-raised.html