Debts rise along with water level
With pant legs rolled up to his knees, Hoeuy Mon trudges through a brown and green patchwork of rice fields.
His four hectares are in Tkov village, Prey Veng province, about 300 metres from his home. On most of the journey, walkways enclosing each square plot are either submerged in water or ruined. Flooding has destroyed half of the latest crop. …
Farmers across the country are facing similar financial crises as rising waters from the Mekong inundate crops and cancel out the value of harvests. The problem is increasingly coming to resemble the aftermath of flooding in 2011, when widespread debt took hold of agricultural communities.
Some farmers who couldn’t pay lost their land, and the government intervened to delay loan deadlines. …
Cambodian Economic Association president Srey Chanty, who has been visiting flood-affected areas throughout Cambodia, said farmers have “borrowed a lot” to fund this wet season’s production.
According to Chanty, microfinance institutions are struggling to meet the demand, causing many farmers to turn to informal lenders, some of whom require more collateral and charge higher interest rates. …
Authorities say it is too early to predict the extent of this year’s damage, but initial government estimates of land affected or at risk put the figure at more than 120,000 hectares and rising. …
Hor Kimsay and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/debts-rise-along-water-level
