Investment needed to reach rice goal: experts
More investment is needed as well as additional assistance for farmers if the government wants to meet its export goal of 1 million tons of rice a year by 2015, according to experts at a recent rice sector meeting in Phnom Penh. Participants said rice millers would need substantial access to financing to update their machinery to bring their rice up to international standards and boost efficiency. ... But in the 2012 budget, the government allocated US$231 million to the entire agriculture sector and Mey Kaylan, a senior government adviser said the government does not have the means to offer loans to farmers. Only about 40 of Cambodia's more than 200 rice mills can process rice that meets international export standards.
