News
Further JICA Support Hinges On Fertilizer Scandal
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that its future support of agricultural development in Cambodia depends on the outcome of an investigation into a provincial official accused of embezzling funds from JICA-donated fertilizer. The accused, deputy bureau chief of Battambang’s department of agriculture Seng ...
Matt Blomberg and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/further-jica-support-hinges-on-fertilizer-scandal-42143/
Four More Named in Fertilizer Embezzlement Scandal
An official from Battambang province’s department of agriculture who was charged last Monday with embezzling $200,000 from the illegal sale of fertilizer donated to the poor by Japan has implicated four other officials in the case, including the son of senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap, ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-more-named-in-fertilizer-embezzlement-scandal-41913/
The slaughterhouse blues
It’s 1am and, as Phnom Penh sleeps, the haunting squeals of distressed animals are all that can be heard in the darkness of a field in Russey Keo district. Pigs in open-air sheds have sensed what’s coming: Hundreds of them are about to be slaughtered for ...
Shane Worrell and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/slaughterhouse-blues
Drop-off in beverage imports questioned
Despite the fact that beverage consumption in Cambodia is on the rise, government statistics show that imports of alcohol and non-alcoholic products in the first half of 2013 have declined by 51 per cent year-on-year. The seemingly conflicting figures left some scratching their heads. Meng Saktheara, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/drop-beverage-imports-questioned
Cambodia expects double growth in rice exports this year: minister
Cambodia was expected to export as much as 400,000 tons of milled rice in 2013 thanks to rising demand on international markets and the country’s efforts in developing rice industry, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Tuesday. “We project that Cambodia can export up to 400,000 tons ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/27/c_132667860.htm
Cambodia's rubber export up 32 pct in first half of 2013
Cambodia has seen a 32 percent rise in dry rubber exports in the first six months of the year, according to the figures of the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday. Revenues from the exports valued at 76.5 million U.S. dollars during the first half of ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-08/20/c_132647504.htm
FAO Predicts Rice Crop to Match Last Year’s
The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that Cambodia’s rice crop this year will equal but not exceed last year’s record yield. In its July rice market monitor report, issued quarterly, the FAO said that weather conditions meant this year’s rice crop would not reach ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/fao-predicts-rice-crop-to-match-last-years-38297/
Cambodia's rubber exports up 29 pct in 5 months
Cambodia reported a 29 percent rise in dry rubber exports in the first five months of 2013, but revenues from the exports rose only 4 percent due to price decline in international markets. Currently, the country has about 300,000 hectares of rubber trees, according to ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-07/19/c_132556398.htm#
Mystery Surrounds Ratanakkiri’s First Special Economic Zone
Construction of a special economic zone (SEZ) near the Vietnamese border in Ratanakkiri province’s eastern O’Yadaw district is on track, but who exactly will avail of the facility and its services remains a mystery—even for senior provincial officials. The latest announced venture of agro-industry land concession ...
REDD+ forest clearing unabated: community
Since last year, up to a half of nearly 8,000 hectares of community forest has been encroached upon and cleared in Oddar Meanchey province’s Banteay Ampil district by soldiers, community representatives said yesterday. Din Heng, chief of Ang Dong Bor community, said the army has cleared ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/redd-forest-clearing-unabated-community
Cargo Traffic Grows at Sihanoukville Port
The total weight of goods transported through the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in the first six months of the year was up 15 percent compared with the same period last year, according to figures released Thursday. Some 1.51 million tons of goods passed through the port in ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cargo-traffic%E2%80%88grows-at-sihanoukville-port-34628/
Harvest Fears as Snail Infestation Destroys Crops
An infestation of large snails is destroying rice fields in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district, raising concerns among farmers that yields from this year’s harvest will be much lower than usual. Eng Samol, Prey Nop district agriculture director, said Tuesday that the snails had already ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/harvest-fears-as-snail-infestation-destroys-crops-34215/
Fish tale: A million released
A million fish formed the front line of the conservation fight yesterday, when Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries officials released them in Kampong Thom provincial waters, celebrating the launching of a national aquaculture institute. Yesterday’s celebration of National Fish Day in Baray district marks the official start ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070266609/National/fish-tale-a-million-released.html
Farmers Petition to Change Agricultural Draft Law
About 200 farmers protested in front of the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday and submitted a petition requesting changes to a draft law on the management of agricultural land, which rights groups have said could effectively legalize land grabs from poor farmers. The government says the ...
Cambodia's rice exports up 126 pct in 5 months
Cambodia’s exports of milled rice have sharply increased in the first five months of this year thanks to rising international market demand and country’s rice promotion strategy, an official said Thursday. The country had exported 146,800 tons of milled rice during January-May period this year, up ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-06/06/c_132435784.htm
Cambodia feels drop in Asian rubber prices
The end of export restrictions in Thailand and a lowering of economic growth forecasts out of top rubber importers China, the United States and Germany have caused natural rubber prices around Asia − and in Cambodia’s local industry − to fall from a two-month high. Future ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060666093/Business/cambodia-feels-drop-in-asian-rubber-prices.html
Try Pheap given OK to harvest yellow vine
Logging baron Try Pheap’s MDS Import Export Co, Ltd has been granted a licence to collect and process the controversial plant known as yellow vine around the Stung Atay hydropower dam in the Cardamom Mountains, according to documents received by the Post yesterday. The vine has ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060466045/National/try-pheap-given-ok-to-harvest-yellow-vine.html
Officials in ‘contract’ farms drive
Officials are seeking expert firms to implement projects on so-called contract farming and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers’ organisations in paddy collecting and processing, officials said. Contract farming is an agreement on agricultural production carried out between a farmer and buyers, which establishes conditions ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265766/Business/officials-in-contract-farms-drive.html
Cambodia launches cassava development project under China, UNDP support
Cambodia launched Tuesday the second phase of cassava development project under the support of China and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Cambodia and China signed a Protocol on the Exports of Cambodian Cassava to Chinese Market in December 2010, under which China allowed Cambodia ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-05/21/c_132397799.htm
Deutsche Bank, IFC Rubber Investments Questioned
Deutsche Bank and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) have poured millions of dollars into Vietnamese rubber companies operating in Cambodia that have engaged in illegal logging and forced evictions of local farmers, the environmental rights group Global Witness says in a new report ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/deutsche-bank-ifc-rubber-investments-questioned-23598/
Firm Given Rights to All ELC Timber in Ratanakkiri
The Ministry of Agriculture has signed a deal with Try Pheap Import Export to give the firm the right to purchase all timber felled in economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, according to a letter sent from the Agriculture Ministry to the Forestry Administration ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firm-given-rights-to-all-elc-timber-in-ratanakkiri-22788/
Pushing the ELC envelope
Three companies accused of illegal logging in Ratanakkiri province are in possession of a combined 30,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) that are likely illegal because they are owned by the same parent firm. Hoang Anh Andong Meas, Hoang Anh Lumphat and Hoang Anh Ouyadav ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365405/National/pushing-the-elc-envelope.html
Angry Villagers Confront Workers
Jarai minority villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district protested in two locations yesterday against a Vietnamese company that community leaders say has been clearing their protected land and forcing villagers to accept inadequate compensation. Community leader Sev Hem said 30 angry villagers directly confronted five Company 72 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165347/National/angry-villagers-confront-workers.html
Hun Sen Demands Answers to Sihanoukville Water Shortage
Prime Minister Hun Sen chastised local authorities in Preah Sihanouk province on Friday for their inability to prevent a water shortage in early April that crippled businesses in the tourist hub of Sihanoukville and left locals without running water for almost a week. The incident ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-demands-answers-to-water-shortage-20480/