Agriculture

Since 2008, a whopping $28 billion worth of investments has been pledged by local and international firms looking to set up lux­ury hotels, a new airport and even Cam­­bo­dia’s first horse racing venue. But a closer look at the list of in­vestments approved by the Cam­bodian ...

Rice millers and exporters are optimistic that they will see an increase in exports this year after they received higher orders toward the end of 2012, producers said yesterday. Toch Tepech, president of the Svay Rieng Rice Millers Association, told the Post he had exported over ...

In what’s believed to be an unprecedented move, the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court has ordered two companies holding economic land concessions to face court questioning on accusations of illegal logging and land clearing. Deputy prosecutor Ros Saram said he summonsed Vietnamese-owned Company 72 last week and will ...

The area of cassava under cultivation fell by 11.5 per cent across the country this season, while the price of cassava chips remained the same as last season’s price. Officials blamed an unstable price during the previous season (from April to April) for the drop. According ...

More than 200 villagers living on an economic land concession on Pursat province say they were unfairly left out of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nationwide land-measuring program after local authorities on Saturday printed the names of families eligible for land titles. Chhuon Khurn, chief of Phteah ...

Hong Kong has banned egg imports from Cambodia due to the country’s recent avian influenza outbreak, which claimed four lives last month. “Hong Kong does not import live poultry or poultry meat from Cambodia, but 170,000 poultry eggs were imported from there last year,” the ...

Against the backdrop of the ongoing Thai government’s rice-pledging policy, Thai rice exports are expected to further decline this year. While it may provide opportunities for Cambodia, the country has not yet benefitted much from the policy, industry experts said. “I think the Thai rice scheme ...

Hundreds of residents in five villages in southern Cambodia have been deprived of their sole source of water as a massive pond in their area has dried up, villagers said. The affected villagers of Sre Ronnong commune in Takeo Province’s Tram Kork district have been buying ...

A group of Phnom Penh residents locked in a long-running land dispute with a real estate project owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin are pitching City Hall a plan they hope will prevent them from being evicted and keep them close to home. “We ...

A group of opposition lawmakers have written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging action against a sugar factory owned by a ruling party official accused of exploiting child labor and grabbing land from villagers. Six Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarians sent a letter dated Jan. ...

China’s demand for natural resources is being felt in a big way in Cambodia. Illegal logging and economic land concessions are threatening Cambodia’s dwindling forests, which now echo the sound of chainsaws. Prey Lang forest — an eight-hour journey north and east of the capital, Phnom Penh ...

Laws protecting ethnic minorities’ communal land rights are good, but their implementation has a long way to go, said participants in a forum of minorities from Mondulkiri and Kratie provinces yesterday. After July’s parliamentary elections, legislators should take the opportunity of a newly constituted government to ...

More than 100 villagers in Preah Vihear province have accused a group of Chinese-owned sugar plantations of encroaching on their farms and community forests since mid-2012 and say they are still waiting for a resolution. Sen Som, a rice farmer in Chheb district, said Heng Rui ...

Ethnic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s Borkeo district have accused a Vietnamese rubber company of digging a channel to drain a lake the indigenous villagers use for fishing and irrigation, a local official and rights worker said yesterday. Rochom Vin, Yeak Som village chief, said ...

The National Assembly on Friday passed a law approving the government’s revenue and spending in 2011, drawing criticism from the opposition, which claimed the amount taken in by the government during the period was too low. All 77 CPP lawmakers present voted in favor of the ...

Capital Rice Ltd, Thailand’s third-largest rice exporter, is shifting some of its business to Cambodia as the Thai market shrinks because of government intervention that has diverted grain into state stockpiles or made it too expensive to ship. “We have built a medium-sized milling house in ...

Cambodian officials in provinces bordering Thailand said the price of Cambodian corn would increase as a result of a reduced supply and a new Thai government policy of importing more corn for animal processing. The Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday that the Thai cabinet approved the ...

Natural rubber consumption in China, Cambodia’s largest rubber market, is expected to rise by 7.2 per cent in 2013 after growing by 4.5 per cent last year, according to the Singapore-based International Rubber Study Group (IRSG). Demand in North America was expected to grow 4.2 per ...

More than 200 people were arrested while defending their land in 2012 – a year human rights groups described yesterday as Cambodia’s “worst” for land disputes. Of the 201 people arrested – a figure that more than doubled the 2011 total – 29 were imprisoned, mostly ...

Cambodia had issued licenses to 146 domestic and foreign investment projects with the total investment of 2.05 billion U.S. dollars in the first eleven months last year, showed a report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) released Tuesday. During the period, the ...

Cambodian company Soma Group has signed a joint-venture agreement with Thai-based CP Intertrade to build and operate a $20 million rice mill that will process fragrant rice for export. Industry insiders say the mill will increase Cambodia’s rice export capacity and boost the Kingdom’s ability to ...

UP AND down a 4km stretch of highway on the northern outskirts of Phnom Penh, about 3,000 of Cambodia’s Cham minority have built a life. Their distinctive Muslim culture thrives in conditions of close-knit community, a stark contrast to the shattering days the country endured ...

Members of the Prey Lang Community Network yesterday called on the government to approve a forest preservation sub-decree that has been in draft form since 2011. Hoeun Sopheap, representative of the Kampong Thom provincial Prey Lang community, said the sub-decree would help protect the biodiversity of ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said more investment in agriculture was needed to ensure that Cambodia can process its crops and add value to agricultural produce being exported abroad. Speaking at the inauguration of a new cargo port in Kandal province, Mr. Hun Sen said there was an ...