Agriculture and fishing
Agriculture
Vietnamese firm to sell rubber plantation in Laos
A Vietnamese multi-sector conglomerate has announced it may sell nearly half of its massive rubber plantation stake in Laos to Chinese partners to deal with increasing debts and shrinking profits. The Vietnamese firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai is a major investor in Laos and operates a ...
Terms announced on rice lending package
The government-owned bank charged with issuing $27 million in emergency loans to rice millers as part of an initiative aimed at propping up the struggling rice industry announced the terms of the credit lines on September 19, and said it would ensure that the funds ...
Thailand to overhaul sugar policy
Thailand, the world’s second largest sugar exporter after Brazil, is to overhaul its sugar production and distribution systems for the first time in more than three decades in order to avoid being challenged by Brazil at the World Trade Organization. The move is unlikely to make ...
PM weighs in on rice lending
Rice millers said on September 18 they welcomed the prime minister’s announcement that the government would make over $20 million in funds available shortly to support cash-strapped millers and prop up falling paddy prices.“We’ve been waiting for these loans for a long time like fish waiting ...
Plan to certify organic quality
GIZ Cambodia, a branch of Germany’s international development agency, signed an agreement on September 15 with local organic food retailer Khmer Organic Cooperative to provide technical support to develop organic vegetable production and to assist the firm in obtaining certification for its products. The agreement calls for ...
Pulp and paper supplier denies draining peat on island near Singapore
A NASA satellite detected 140 hotspots in West Kalimantan on September 12 as smallholders in the province continued to burn land for agriculture, Indonesia’s disaster management agency said on September 13. Data from Global Forest Watch shows the district of Ketapang recorded 144 fire alerts over the ...
No sign of relief for rice industry
As the harvest season of Cambodia’s most important crop kicks off, a crisis is looming as both rice farmers and millers face crippling capital shortages and a promised industry lifeline has yet to materialise. Industry experts said on September 14 that these small farmers desperate to pay ...
State aid for cassava farmers
The government is set to introduce measures to curb the adverse impact of falling tapioca prices in light of lower imports from China and price-cutting competition. Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the measures include schemes to cut farmers’ existing loan interest, ...
China agrees to double rice import quota: PM
China has agreed to double its rice import quota, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced at the opening of the first Chinese-Cambodia investment forum in Nanning, China on September 12, offering a much-needed boost to Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector. The prime minister said China’s government had officially ...
Palm farmers eye a sweet deal
Palm sugar producers in Kampong Speu province say they are ready to scale up and meet demand as global consumer goods giant Unilever looks to source palm sugar for its products from the Cambodian market. Prak Sereywath, president of the Cambodia Institute for Research and Rural ...
