Failed

Keeping the system accountable. 
An Australian bank's subsidiaries actions reflect poorly on the mother company which is held accountable to their national standards. 
The documented problems concerning Cambodia's sugar "investments", which in reality are schemes to rob poorer farmers from (access to) their land. 
National retribution (read law and order) have not been forthcoming, so it's no wonder that international backers are then called upon. 
With success. 
Wonder what Mitr Phol, the Thai company heavily involved thinks?

Anyway, the Sydney Morning Herald (Oct. 11):

'ANZ Bank failed to meet its own human rights standards when it financed a Cambodian sugar plantation that was linked to forced evictions, child labour and workplace deaths, according to an Australian government investigation.
...
But the Australian Treasury division stopped short of endorsing a suggestion by non-government organisations that ANZ be forced to divest its profts from the sugar plantation loan to provide financial redress to hundreds of Cambodian families.
...
Representatives of affected Cambodian families told the inquiry that the sugar development was associated with “arbitrary arrests and intimidation of villagers, the use of child labour and dangerous working conditions which have resulted in death”.
In its response, ANZ continued to argue that its financing was linked to the development of a sugar refinery and not the plantation which had required the removal of the families.
...
Concerns about the behaviour of Phnom Penh Sugar were on the public record as early as 2010, but ANZ decided a year later in 2011 to accept the company as a client and loan it tens of millions of dollars'.

So, no compo apparently. 
Well, that also seems forthcoming.  ABC (Oct. 12):

'ANZ will consider whether to compensate hundreds of Cambodian families who were forcibly evicted from their farms to make way for a sugar plantation and refinery partially financed by the bank, chief executive Shayne Elliott has told a parliamentary committee'.

Best

Once again the non-transparent selection of what could be the globe's best rice has shifted back to Cambodia, after Thailand had won the award the last few years. The Khmer Times (Oct. 15):

'Cambodian premium fragrant rice, Malys Angkor, won the World’s Best Rice award – the fourth achievement it earned for Cambodia, after landing second in the last three years'.

However coveted, the Phnom Penh Post (Oct. 15) notes this does not mean that the national rice sector is in an upswing; au contriare:

'Cambodian rice exports fell 8.4 per cent from 421,966 tonnes in the first nine months of last year to 389,264 tonnes in the same period this year, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ General Directorate of Agriculture.

Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) vice-president Hun Lak said the decrease is due to the shortage of paddy to supply the industry.

The claim conflicts with government records which show national paddy surpluses of up to more than three million tonnes a year.

“The world rice market this year is good, so there are many brokers to buy the paddy directly from farmers, while our storage [facilities are not yet] ready."

“So the trend of rice exports this year has decreased. Even though we have buyers, we do not have paddy on hand to mill for exports,” Lak said'.

Reliance
While Cambodia's exports are down those of Vietnam are up. The Bangkok Post (Oct. 11):

'Vietnam is seeking to reduce its reliance on Asian rice markets while boosting the output of high-quality grain to better position itself in the global market, the government said on Thursday.
...
The government said it will seek to boost exports to Africa to 25% of its exports and to 10% for markets in the Americas.
"(Vietnam's) rice production in the coming time will focus on clean and organic rice and on diversifying its processed rice products," Tran Thanh Hai, the deputy head of the trade department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in the statement.
The value of Vietnam's rice exports in 2018 may rise to between $3.2 billion and $3.3 billion, an increase of up to 26.9% from $2.6 billion last year, the trade ministry said on Thursday in a separate statement on its official Facebook page.
...
The nation exported 4.89 million tonnes of rice in the first nine months of 2018, up 6.7% from a year earlier, while rice exports revenue in the nine-month period jumped 21.3% annually to $2.46 billion, official data showed'.

The Vientiane Times (Sep. 26) shares how the Lao rice market will have nought to export:

'The Nation will not face serious rice shortages but will encounter temporary difficulties in supplying the staple grain, according to the National Ad Hoc Committee in charge of the post-disaster response.
This will occur in some provinces which usually require rice supplies from others.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr Lien Thikeo representing the committee made the comment at their first press conference last week to report on initial assessments of the impact of floods around the country.
“We will not face serious shortages of food but will face temporary difficulty only,” Dr Lien said.
According to the minister, losses in the agriculture and forestry sector have been estimated at 1,260 billion kip.
Some 90,600 hectares or around 12 percent of planted rice fields were damaged by floods and 3.2 million tonnes of rice will be generated from the harvest of wet season paddy fields'.

In more detail, The Nation (Oct. 22) takes a look at the plans to wean farmers from rice:

'Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach has ordered officials to proceed with a corn-growing promotion scheme under the government’s San Palang Pracharat public-private partnership initiative.
Moving ahead now would help achieve Grisada’s goal of having rice farmers switch from off-season rice this year to instead growing corn for animal feed on 2 million rai of land in 33 target provinces.
He aims to reduce workplace risk to rice farmers and solve the issue of sagging agricultural product prices due to an oversupply that could drive many to call for government aid.
...
However, Dr Chokechai Aekatasanawan – director of the Kasetsart University’s National Research Centre of Millet and Corn - has advised rice farmers to be very cautious when switching to corn plantations.
“There is a risk of the whole corn plantation being ruined by drought or floods if they are not careful,” he said. “Rice farmers are usually able to curb damage to paddy to an extent when natural disasters strike, because they have had long experience growing rice. Things will be different when they handle corn – a crop they are not so familiar with.”

Not all good news though.
 
Finally, VietNam News (Sep. 26) reports on the rising sea levels, the lack of silt laden Mekong waters and their effects both on the land and rice growing in the delta:

'Because of climate change, Vietnam’s Kien Giang province is struggling to maintain its place as the country’s biggest rice producer, a distinction it has held for nearly two decades.
The province is well positioned to produce rice. Located on the coast, in an area in the Mekong Delta with some of the country’s richest soil, Kien Giang has more than 357,000 hectares of rice paddies. It produces an average of four million tonnes each year.
But ever-rising seas have deposited saltwater deeper into the province, contaminating the three key production areas of Long Xuyen Quadrangle, West Hau River and U Minh Thuong and killing off hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice over the last few years.
...
With its economy threatened by climate change, Kiên Giang is pushing ahead with new irrigation facilities to manage the rapid invasion of saltwater.
The province is investing VNĐ950 billion (US$42.2 million) to finance new sluice gates along the An Biên-An Minh coastal dyke that will prevent saltwater intrusion and retain as much fresh water as possible. The funds will also go towards a massive network of irrigation channels in the Long Xuyên Quadrangle and West Hậu River agricultural areas'.

Lamentations
Well, we are now looking at other crops and we're back where we started: sugar and Mitr Phol.

 The Nation (Oct. 15):

'Hit by low prices, Mitr Phol Group chief says producers must focus on increasing productivity and cutting cost
Challenges lie ahead for the global sugar industry and Thai producers must prepare for higher productivity and costcutting, says Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of Mitr Phol Group, the world’s fifth-largest sugar producer,
Thai farmers should change their thinking when it comes to production, he said.
“They should not be preoccupied with prices, but should instead focus on raising production volume and lowering costs,” he responded when asked about the low prices of farm products, including sugar canes.
...
Isara conceded that new tax structure on beverages with high sugar content had adversely impacted the local sugar industry.
It is a social trend where sugar is blamed for many health issues, but many tend to overlook salt which does more harm, he lamented.
Thailand restructured its sugar industry after Brazil, a rival proฌducer, raised the issue of Thai subsidies before the World Trade Organisation.
“Market liberalisation is expected to make the Thai sugar industry more volatile in years to come,” said Nipon Poaponsakorn, veteran economist at Thailand Development Research Institute.
...
Meanwhile, the government has pledged to support sugar cane farmers with a handout of Bt50 per tonne, followed by sugar producers’ offer of Bt70 per tonne. Each farmer is entitled to receive support for up to 5,000 tonnes'.

It seems that the farmer is to blame. 
However it's very well known that because of poor factory planning, farmers are loosing big time, as their crop takes weeks from field to factory, while sugar content drops.

Phnom Penh Post (Oct. 4) has a write up on banana's:

'Longmate Agriculture Co Ltd, a joint venture between local, Chinese and Hong Kong investors, is set to send some 30,000 tonnes of its maiden banana export to China in January.

Its chairman, Phe Hokchhoun, said: “The first [shipment] of 30,000 tonnes will be exported in January and we will double the amount in the coming years.”

Cambodia inked an agreement in August with China to begin exporting the fruit to the Asian economic powerhouse'.

The Nation (Oct. 5) has an article on Thai rubber farmers receiving handouts:

'The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is planning to offer Bt3,000 compensation per rai to rubber growers who agree not to tap rubber latex in their plantations for three months.
“This is a planned measure to tackle falling rubber prices,” Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach said yesterday.
He said he had already instructed the Rubber Authority of Thailand to consult the Council of State about the possibility of seeking a Bt9-billion loan, with the government acting as a guarantor for the plan’s implementation.
...
While plantation owners are promised compensation, their farm hands look set to bear the brunt. Normally, rubber tappers get paid to do their jobs on the basis of benefit sharing. But compensation is unlikely to be shared if the plan is implemented'.

Phnom Penh Post (Sep. 25) in probably an article sourced elsewhere looks at the regions issues with palm oil:

'Indonesian palm oil farmer Kawal Surbakti says his livelihood is under attack, but the threat is not from insects or hungry orangutans eating his prized crop.

Half a world away, the European Parliament is moving to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels, while British grocer Iceland has announced it will stop using the commodity over concerns that it causes widespread environmental destruction.

Losing the key European market worries small farmers like Surbakti and millions of others in Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia – the world’s top two producers – as prices drop for an oil found in everything from biscuits and sweets to cosmetics and vehicle gas tanks.

...

Environmentalists accuse the multibillion-dollar industry of destroying huge swaths of rainforest home to indigenous communities, orangutans and other threatened species.

Critics say that palm oil development also contributes to climate change through deliberate forest-clearing fires, which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and lung-clogging smog into the region’s air.

Many under-pressure firms made “no deforestation” pledges, but activists say they are tough to monitor and frequently broken in the vast jungles of Sumatra and Borneo island.

This week, Greenpeace said a group of Indonesian palm oil firms that supply major international brands including Unilever and Nestle have cleared an area of rainforest almost twice the size of Singapore in less than three years.

A ban would threaten the livelihoods of 650,000 smallholders and over 3.2 million Malaysians who rely on the industry, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council'.

Ironically at the same time smallholders are driven off their land, larger companies simply steal their land.

More climatology. Should dams be brimming or should they fulfill their role as flood regulators?

The Nation (Oct. 10):

'Farmers are being urged to store as much water as possible and carefully plan their farming needs, as most areas in the Northeast and some parts of the North and Central areas will have no water for agriculture during the coming dry season.
With the rainy season ending within the next 20 days, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) yesterday raised concerns about a possible drought and water shortage in many parts of Thailand, after the agency’s Smart Water Operation Centre revealed that 35 reservoirs across the country have stored water below 30 per cent of capacity, and 95 reservoirs have water at 30 to 60 per cent of capacity.
...
Sutat Weesakul, Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute director, said that based on the long-term weather forecast, he expected that Thailand would face more arid conditions than usual at the peak of the dry season in the first months of next year, due to a strong El Nino in the Pacific. He suggested that farmers store their own water and refrain from growing a dry season rice crop so as to minimise the impacts of the upcoming drought on their farm'.