Fresh push for contract farming
Frustrated with the failure of a $27 million emergency loan package to help rice farmers find a fair market price for their crop and stem the tide of smuggled paddy across the borders, Agriculture Minister Veng Sokhon is flogging a new model for the nation’s restive rice farmers: contract rice farming. Addressing a meeting on November 30 between government policymakers, the Cambodian Rice Federation and private sector rice millers and exporters, Sokhon said the emergency loan package announced in September had failed to provide a secure local market for farmers to sell their rice paddy at a reasonable profit. “The root of the issue is the impact on the livelihood of farmers as paddy rice prices decreased to a point that they could not make any profit from farming,” he said. In response, he said the government would look to encourage more contract rice farming, and would for the first time instruct provincial officials to oversee and enforce the agreements. In contract farming, buyers sign agreements with farmers for the production and supply of crops to be delivered at a future date, usually at predetermined volumes, qualities and prices. Buyers often supply seeds, fertiliser and other inputs upfront, recovering these costs from the production while sparing farmers the burden of debt.
