News
Kampot’s famous pepper goes global
When Him Anna started to plant pepper crops seven years ago, she would have never thought that one day it would turn into a profitable business. Today, Anna is the chief executive officer of Bright Starling Holdings Co, which owns Starling Farm Kampot Pepper. Established ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kampot%E2%80%99s-famous-pepper-goes-global
HPAI in Cambodia Affects Backyard Poultry
The Cambodian veterinary authorities have reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Battambang affecting backyard poultry. An immediate notification was sent to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) reporting that the causal agent has been identified as the HPAI virus, serotype H5N1. ...
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/29821/hpai-in-cambodia-affects-backyard-poultry
Rail gets rice exports on move
For the first time since a railway rehabilitation project was launched in 2006, Cambodian rice is now being transported from Phnom Penh to the Sihanoukville port along the country’s southern line for export, operators Toll said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Phnom Penh cargo loading station, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rail-gets-rice-exports-move
On Coast, Chinese Development Pushes Thousands From Land
Thousands of villagers in a remote district of the coastal province of Koh Kong have been evicted or are facing eviction in the face of a Chinese resort development project. Some families have moved unwillingly to relocation sites. But others are refusing to leave, setting the ...
ADB to loan $55 million to Cambodia's rice sector
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $55 million to help transform the rice sector of Cambodia into a viable commercial industry as well as taking care of the land and water resources. ADB’s Climate-Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development Program―which will run ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ZjI4NDZjMzFlMmE
In carbon, gains for agriculture
Paying Cambodian farmers to capture carbon by not removing mulch during planting and harvesting would help support climate change mitigation, reduce soil deterioration and return higher yields in the long term, say leading agriculture experts. Speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh last Friday, Professor Rattan ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062466434/Business/in-carbon-gains-for-agriculture.html
Cassava farmers rely on Thai seed imports
Cassava farmers in Banteay Meanchey province had to import seeds from Thailand this season in response to rapidly-changing weather conditions that interfered with seed growth. Te Haing, a cassava farmer in Banteay Meanchey who planted more than 1,000 hectares this season, told the Post yesterday that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061766299/Business/cassava-farmers-rely-on-thai-seed-imports.html
Authorities Deny Abuses at Thai Plantation Tied To CPP Senator
Oddar Meanchey province deputy governor Lon An yesterday confirmed CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s involvement in a trio of sugar cane plantations that rights groups took to the National Human rights Commission of Thailand last week, but denied their allegations of rights abuses. The deputy ...
Against the Grain
On the palm-studded plains of Cambodia, rice farmers’ eyes light up with the prospect of sending their crop northward to China. The poor Southeast Asian nation had been trying for several years to export rice to the mainland but only last year did it gain ...
http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/china-rice-demand-market-import
Families seek to Farm Land Claimed by RCAF
Some 300 families from Bantey Meanchey province’s Preah Netr Preah district-embroiled in two separate long-running disputes with Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF)-yesterday submitted complaints to the provincial governor asking for permission to temporarily farm on the land until the ownership dispute is resolved, villagers and ...
Mondolkiri, Kompong Thom Face Climate Threat
Mondolkiri and Kompong Thom provinces could suffer some of the most extreme effects of climate change in the Lower Mekong Basin region, such as a high incidence of flash floods and droughts by 2050, according to a new study. Analyzing temperature and rainfall from 84 provinces ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mondolkiri-kompong-thom-face-climate-threat-17224/
Cambodia’s Economic Growth Will Help Poverty Reduction
Cambodia economic growth was 7.3 percent in 2012. Agriculture grew by 4.3 percent, crops by 4.9 percent, fisheries by 6.7 percent, industry by 9.2 percent, garment [sector] by 6.9 percent and the service industry by 8.1 percent, said Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary of State ...
Local brokers still manipulate prices: farmers
Farmers have expressed concern over local brokers’ manipulation of the market during harvest season, reducing buying prices for farmers who have no access to actual market rates. While some farmers have already completed their harvests, others have left their fields barren, fearing brokers will reduce ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/Business/local-brokers-still-manipulate-prices-farmers.html
Jarai File Complaint Over Firm Filling In Lake
Etnhic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s Kakeo district yesterday filed a complaint with the provincial court, accusing a Vietnamese rubber company of clearing their ancestral land and filling in a lake they use for fishing and irrigation. Local officials say the company intends to ...
Labour shortage vexes farmers in Pailin province
Farmers in Pailin province have complained about a shortage of workers during this year’s corn and cassava harvesting season. Meas Loeun, team leader of Momean Moy community’s 38 teams in Pailin, said the shortage of workers to help harvest corn and cassava is a major challenge ...
Farming implicated in climate change
Food production accounts for almost one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to a study published last week by the agricultural research organisation CGIAR. Food systems, from growing crops and raising livestock to storage and transportation, contribute 19 to 29 per cent of global ...
RPT-World Bank cuts East Asia GDP outlook, flags China risks
The World Bank cut its economic growth forecasts for the East Asia and Pacific region on Monday and said there was a risk the slowdown in China could get worse and last longer than expected “Economic projections for EAP (East Asia and Pacific) are surrounded by ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/worldbank-asia-outlook-idUSL3E8L81IN20121008
UN Says Cambodia 'Food Secure' Thanks to Gov't Policies
While the global economic crisis weakened the ability of Cambodian households to purchase food, the government’s focus on agricultural production and other policies have since helped alleviate food insecurity in the country, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in a new report. Between June ...
Factory Suspends Operations After Complaints Over Fumes
British American Tobacco (Cambodia) Co. (BAT), which produces the cigarette brand ARA, suspended operations at its re-drying plant in Kandal province’s Takhmao commune yesterday, in order to allow time to redesign its air filtration system following repeated complaints about fumes that were allegedly spewing from ...
Villagers No Longer Seen As Secessionists
Villagers locked in a land dispute in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district no longer pose a secessionist threat, and those remaining in the contested area will receive new plots of land on which to live, the district governor said yesterday. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that ...
Cedac Encourages Using Frogs As an Alternative to Pesticides
Cambodian farmers often turn to pesticides when trying to stop insects from destroying crops, but the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) has come up with a better idea: frogs. “Frogs are important to protect rice plants from damage by insects, especially during ...
Years After Eviction, Families Return In Search of Land Titles
More than 100 families in Stung Treng province have returned to land they were evicted from in 2007, hoping to acquire property titles after student volunteers arrived in the area to demarcate land under the titling program announced last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Stung ...
Once thought full of potential, Cambodia's palm oil sector has mostly fizzled
At one time, palm oil production stirred a lot of excitement in Cambodia. Perhaps hoping to follow in the footsteps of palm oil giants Malaysia or Indonesia, more than 10 firms in Cambodia registered for land concessions for palm cultivation around a decade ago. Today, there is one left. The others decided palm ...
High interest rates on loans remain a big hurdle for Cambodian farmers
Sitting in front of her small house in the Chey Thorn commune of Kandal province, 35-year-old Sokhun’s face is etched with worry. She would like to plant crops on her four hectares of land, but she only has enough money to cultivate two of them. She could go to a microfinance finance institution ...