Rice standards run out of steam
The government is seeking funding to complete its effort to draft standards for 11 local varieties of rice as part of an initiative aimed at facilitating efforts to market Cambodia’s most important agricultural crop, a government official said on November 6. Chheng Uddara, a department director at the Institute of Standards of Cambodia, said standards for eight varieties have been drafted with the financial support of the multi-donor Trade Development Support Program, but the funding only covers about half of the development process. “We received funding from the TDSP, but these funds only cover about 50 percent of the plan,” Uddara said. “We are short of the budget required to finish the standards.” He said a draft of the new standards had already been completed and was ready for review, but more progress would be needed to test rice in laboratories, hold workshops and give the public a chance to provide feedback on the draft standards.
