Government, plantation managers trade blame
The managers of some of Cambodia’s most controversial agribusiness plantations on 21 July blamed their many land disputes on the government, accusing officials of failing to educate communities about the benefits of their giant farms. Rights groups blame economic land concessions for some of Cambodia’s worst problems, including deforestation and mass forced evictions. But when the Agriculture Ministry held a workshop on 21 July to explain to ELC managers what the government was doing to help them, the managers took the opportunity to vent their frustrations with the state. Three of the An Mady Group’s plantations are located inside or around the Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, where indigenous minority communities accuse the company of clearing the communal forests they have relied on for generations.
