Interesting

It's the start of the year, when Cambodia sees it's big bosses discuss rice. No difference there, this year. 

Probably the most significant snippet from the meet is the announcement of a national rice brand. The Khmer Times (Jan. 22):

'The annual rice forum starts in Phnom Penh today, bringing together farmers, businesses and researchers for a two-day event that seeks to find solutions to some of the sector’s most pressing questions.

...

Malys Angkor, the first brand name of Cambodian premium rice, will be formally launched during the event'.

Even the Bangkok Post (Jan. 24) chimes in:

'Rice authorities unveiled the “Malys Angkor” rice brand, a new certification mark that encompasses a range of Cambodian fragrant rice varieties'.

The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 22) delves deeper into the issues of the single brand and more urgent problems as unveiled at the meeting:

'The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) today announced a new “Malys Angkor” brand to be used as the official moniker for four species of Cambodian fragrant rice.

The first day of the two-day Cambodia Rice Forum also featured the release of a remarkably frank report on the industry group’s internal issues, which acknowledges that the CRF’s numerous flaws are currently preventing it from acting as a proper representative of the country’s rice sector.

Sok Puthyvuth, president of the CRF and son-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, lauded the branding effort at the launch of the forum at Phnom Penh’s Sofitel Hotel today.

...

The Malys Angkor branding push is part of the CRF’s long-term goal to promote the country’s rice sector, but those efforts are being hampered by significant internal problems, according to the group’s “Strategic Plan 2017-2021”.

“Current assessments suggest that there are many challenges facing the CRF,” the report says, noting that board members appear to have “commitment discipline issues” and that many board members only attend meetings “when the meeting is about their interests”.

Other complaints include farmers being pushed aside in favor of millers and traders, as well as more wealthy or connected members having greater access to the CRF’s services and attention than regular members.

Money also appears to be a problem, as “lack of sufficient financing” and few technical experts results in the CRF lacking a way of “sustainably handling requests from of [sic] members of the rice sector.”

In addition, board decisions “often remain unimplemented”, and a new scheme to increase local-level monitoring of the rice sector by placing CRF representatives in various zones around the country may run into trouble because “the CRF appears to not possess all the requirements” to implement the program'.

So, despite the hoopla concerning the single brand it seems the rice sector is more based on lining each participants pocket(s) as she/he wishes. Nothing new to the current Khmer climate, where it seems that there's only one party in town. Literally.

As if the single brand isn't sufficient the Khmer Times (Jan. 23) notes that there's also a focus on having a GI within the brand:

'Rice authorities in the kingdom are exploring the possibility of applying for Geographical Indication (GI) status for rice grown in areas around the Tonle Sap Lake.

Speaking during the Rice Forum in Phnom Penh, Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said his association will present a proposal to the Ministry of Commerce to consider awarding GI status to rice grown in Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang, the provinces that surround the Tonle Sap.

Mr Puthyvuth said that creating a brand name for rice grown in areas around the Tonle Sap will make for a sound marketing strategy, helping increase demand for the product in European markets'.

Is this not complicating things?

Ups

Then there's the stocktaking of 2017. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 2) notes the numbers are up:

'Cambodian rice exports in 2017 increased 17 percent by volume compared to the year before, with exporters pushing to fill orders under China’s expanded import quota while shipments to European markets remained steady, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.
A total of 635,600 tonnes of rice was exported to international markets in 2017, up from 542,144 tonnes the previous year, according to a Facebook post by Hean Vanhan, director general of the general directorate of agriculture at the ministry.
China, which agreed to accept 200,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia in 2017 – doubling the previous limit – and will expand the quota to 300,000 tonnes this year, was the top destination for rice shipments.
Over five years, total rice exports have grown 67.78 percent from 378,800 tonnes in 2013, the figures show'.

But are the returns in money terms also as positive? And what is the actual price being paid for becoming more and more dependent on the Chinese market?

The Bangkok Post (Dec. 29) jots down the Thai story of rice over 2017. Quite similar:

'Rice exports hit an all-time record in 2017, increasing by 14.77% this year to at least 11.25 million tonnes as of Dec 27, the Ministry of Commerce said. The price per tonne has risen above US1,000 for popular Jasmin fragrant rice, or hom mali'. 

The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 10) looks at the government loan scheme. To big business mainly:

The government has provided $30 million in loans to rice millers since September to facilitate the purchase of paddy rice, with the head of a state-run bank saying more money was available if necessary.
The loans were issued to 38 rice millers by the state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) following September’s rice harvest, and would need to be paid back by April this year, according to RDB’s CEO Kao Thach'.

A lesser bit of national rice news, but more encouraging. The Khmer Times (Dec. 28) reports on how the Ibis Rice project has been successfully expanded to Stung Treng province.

Seething

Major news from the massive palmoil sector in the region, touching on one potential for Cambodia's ag sector. 

Hoping to cash in on the ill-ventured biofuel programmes (I mean you need more fuel to grow the crops than you receive after harvest) the boom may well be leading to a bust. 

Despite warnings, palmoil plantations have done little to ensure a decent level of sustainability. And no surprise then, that the EU will be discontinuing the palmoil component within the regions biofuel programme. Euractiv (Jan. 17):

'The European Parliament decided today (17 January) to phase-out palm oil by 2021 and cap crop-based biofuels at the member states’ 2017 consumption levels and no more than 7% of all transport fuels until 2030....“The Parliament has sent a message that not all biofuels are created equal by focusing on getting rid of those that drive deforestation like palm oil. But its amendments still risk making it harder for EU member states to realistically boost renewables in transport,” Secretary-General of ePURE Emmanuel Desplechin said'.

The decision has especially Malaysia and Indonesia up in arms, both crying foul play. Mongabay (Jan. 19):

'Officials in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest producers of palm oil, have lambasted the European Parliament’s decision to phase out the commodity from motor fuels over the next three years due to environmental concerns.
Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said Thursday that the vote to reduce to zero “the contribution from biofuels and bioliquids produced from palm oil” by 2021 was misguided and unfair, given that Jakarta had taken steps to address the environmental impact of the palm oil industry.
The trade minister’s remarks came a day after the European Parliament voted on targets to cap crop-based biofuels, which follows the parliament’s overwhelming decision last year to ban the use of vegetable oils in biofuels. The amendments will now go to the European Commission and member states before they become law.
The move will have serious ramifications for Indonesia and Malaysia, who together produce nearly 90 percent of the world’s palm oil.
...
While the governments seethe, conservation and indigenous rights activists have welcomed the phase-out vote, citing the massive toll the palm oil industry has taken on tropical rainforests and the local communities dependent on them.
Eep Saefulloh, a researcher with Sawit Watch, an NGO that monitors the palm oil industry in Indonesia, criticized the industry talking points that the deforestation caused was legally sanctioned.
“If we’re talking about large palm oil plantations, of course they cause deforestation,” he said. “Unless we’re talking about small farmers only need a hectare or two. But if we’re talking about large plantations that can extend beyond villages and districts, what do we call that if not deforestation?”

This news takes some time to seep through to Cambodia. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 24):

'New proposed rules from the European Union restricting the import of palm oil would likely affect Cambodia’s nascent palm oil sector, but the country’s main exporter is hoping that demand from India and China will cushion the blow.
Cambodia’s palm oil exports rose by a whopping 143 percent last year, according to Ker Monthivuth, a sanitation expert at the Ministry of Agriculture. The country exported more than 44,000 tonnes of crude palm oil in 2017, up from nearly 19,000 tonnes the year before, he said.
...
“We will look to what happen in India and China, if they increase [consumption] volume,” he [Prachak Kongtanomtham, vice president of sales and marketing at the Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Oil Palm Co Ltd] said. “We should find how can reduce our production cost, especially logistic cost and utility,” he added, noting that costs were “very high” in Cambodia'. 

Flied

From the kingdom's fruit front, it's mostly mango making the moves. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 22) looks at the export of  the fresh produce:

'Cambodia’s mango shipments have been routinely blocked before making it to the international market, with the Ministry of Agriculture claiming the mangoes are not of a high enough quality to meet the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements necessary to ship outside of the Kingdom.
According to Hean Vanhan, director general at the General Directorate of Agriculture, the main obstacle for Cambodian mangoes making it to the international market has been the prevalence of fruit flies, which infest prospective shipments of the produce.
“It is not a matter of the quality of our mango – the main obstacle to the market is the fruit fly, which blocks our mango exports and makes it difficult to achieve SPS certification,” he said, adding that the SPS certificate could only be granted to shipments of mangoes devoid of “injurious pests”.
...
In Chayvan, president of Kampong Speu Mangoes Association, said that while the fruit fly has been a problem for mango farmers in the past, most have established methods that ensure there are few to no flies in their mango shipments.
The real reason Cambodia’s mangoes are unable to reach the international market, he said, is because they are often blocked for perceived hygiene-related issues, and he urged the Ministry of Agriculture to hasten its administration of SPS certificates to encourage neighbouring countries to buy Cambodian produce.
“The fruit fly is not our main concern when it comes to being blocked from the international market,” he said, adding that most mango shipments that had been prepared to leave Cambodia had met the SPS requirements. “Our main issue is that the SPS certification is too hard to get from the ministry, and so we have no access to ship to surrounding countries.”

But on the upswing, the same source (Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 4) notes positives for the export of dried mangoes:

'Phillipines-based dried fruit exporter Profood International has begun construction of a new factory in Cambodia that, when completed, should see 4,000 tonnes of mangoes dried annually, according to Philippine news outlet Sun Star.
Justin Uy, Profood founder and president, told Sun Star the 11-hectare plant was expected to begin operations in 2019, and that all mangoes dried at the facility would be slated for shipment to the Chinese market to satiate the nation’s annual 30,000 tonne demand. The company’s entry into Cambodia is intended to strengthen its foothold in the Southeast Asian market. Profood products are sold in 52 countries'.

And now something totally unrelated, but I think it's relevant to this blog. It has  very little common with all the other subjects explored this time round, but I still feel I need to explain. Anyway the Vientiane Times (Jan. 24) reports:

'Chemical and pesticide experts from Laos and other Asean member countries are meeting in Vientiane this week to discuss the harmonisation of maximum pesticide residue limits in the interests of food safety.
...
So far Laos has adopted 768 out of 808 Asean maximum residue limits but lags behind many Asean member states in this regard'.

Boom to bust
Contrasting news.

From Cambodia (Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 18) on the increasing expansion of rubber cultivation, though with a side note on smuggling to Vietnam. Beats me , why Cambodian producers would need to pay an export tax, totally uneconomic.

'The total amount of rubber exported by Cambodia surged 30 percent last year, but widespread rubber smuggling on the Vietnamese border crippled potential profits from the booming industry.
Cambodia generated about $300 million in revenue by exporting nearly 189,000 tons of rubber last year, according to Pol Sopha, general director of the rubber department at the Ministry of Agriculture. The revenue boost was also helped by a 24 percent increase in the average price per ton, which was up to $1,586 last year, compared to $1,283 in 2016.
But while small-scale rubber farmers were able to sell their crops for a profit, the industry as a whole was crippled by massive smuggling operations that shipped much of the country’s rubber into Vietnam tax-free, according to Sopha'.

But over in Thailand, there's more focus on the low prices. The Bangkok Post (Jan. 6):

'Rubber prices are expected to rise to 60 baht a kilogramme in the first quarter after Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia pledged to withhold exports of 350,000 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) from this month until March.
...
Thai natural rubber prices have been falling for several years, largely due to oversupply from major rubber-producing countries. The weak global economy subsequently cut demand in the auto industry, damaging rubber producers as a result.
The drop was also attributed to the growth of rubber plantations in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in the past 10 years. The CLMV countries currently supply 5.3% of the commodity to the global rubber market'. 

Seeing the pie has not increased, the new entrants are claiming a share, but Thailand seems reluctant. A solution put forward was to allow large scale investment (read take-over) in the Thai rubber sector by China. But the Bangkok Post (Jan. 7) reports on the distrust issue:

'China's plan to invest in rubber plantations in Thailand must be carefully considered, says Grisada Boonrach, minister to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, but such projects must not impact local farmers. His comment was made in response to a report that China Hainan Rubber Industry Group is set to invest more in rubber plantations in the country, as it has done recently in the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam). Under these schemes, Chinese nationals oversee rubber production on land leased by the company.
...
Mr Grisada said that as the issue is quite sensitive a thorough study must be undertaken to ascertain the impact on domestic producers. His major worry being that there might be a repeat of the price dumping by Chinese middlemen in fruit markets in the eastern provinces'. 

Then it's reported (Bangkok Post, January 24), that producers will still try to keep the prices reasonable:

'Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are hopeful of seeing the end of sagging natural rubber prices after agreeing on export cutbacks, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said.
The minister expressed Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are hopeful of seeing the end of sagging natural rubber prices after agreeing on export cutbacks, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said. The minister expressed confidence about the turnaround of rubber prices following the implementation of the three countries in the International Tripartite Rubber Council to curb exports for three months starting from Jan 10'.

Sugar

The great sell-off in practice. 

The Khmer Times (Jan. 12) notes how Cambodia is counting on China to take some sugar:

'During a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked China to increase imports of Cambodian sugarcane.
...
The kingdom imports between 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of sugarcane every year, according to a representative of Phnom Penh Sugar.
However, only 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes are absorbed by the local market, with the remaining sugarcane being re-exported.
During the meeting yesterday, Mr Li agreed to increase their quota for imports of Cambodian milled rice, from 200,000 tonnes to 300, 000.
During the opening of the LMC summit on Wednesday, Mr Hun Sen also encouraged China to purchase more Cambodian cassava.

Umm, the sugar isn't even Khmer.

Bangkok Post (Jan. 17) describes the measures taken to meet WTO rulings:

'The government has invoked Section 44 to float the local price of sugar, says Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana. The local price had been subsidised by the Thai government. But the government wants the local price to be on a par with the global rate, as its support was in violation of a World Trade Organization (WTO) rule, with other sugar producers such as Brazil crying foul.
The plan to float the sugar price had been postponed since Dec 1'. 

The idea is not to raise local prices, but to hope that world prices will drop to Thai domestic levels. Thus face saved.

Inclination

A few snippets concerning growing cassava. The Khmer Times (Jan. 11):

'Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon met on Monday with visiting US professors W. Ronnie Coffman and Max J. Pfeffer from Cornell University to discuss cooperation in a new project whose purpose is to yield disease-resilient, high yielding cassava.
...
CARDI director Ouk Makara, who also joined the meeting, told Khmer Times that the team of US professors use biotechnology [genomic selection] to cultivate their cassava variety.
“The next generation cassava yields 10 percent more than our cassava,” he said, adding that, on average, Cambodian cassava yields 24 to 25 tonnes per hectare.
Cassava plantations in the kingdom have increased from 30,000 hectares in 2005 to 684,070 in 2016, with total production amounting to 14.8 million tonnes last year, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The provinces in which the crop is grown are Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pailin, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Tboung Khmom and Oddar Meanchey.
Cambodia exported 2.3 million tonnes of cassava chips during the first nine months of 2017. Cassava chip exports in 2016 amounted to 2.9 million tonnes, which mostly went to China, Thailand and Vietnam'.

Is genomic selection just a short cut for natural selection?

The Vientiane Times (Jan. 15) finally shows us an example of how business should not take place:

'Many of the nation’s cassava farmers remain desperate to recover money that the Lao-Indochina Group Public Company has owed them since failing to pay for their produce in 2012.
The company’s bankruptcy resulted in the firm’s creditors, mostly cassava farmers, incurring further debts to banks, notably Nayoby Bank, leading the situation to its current deadlock.
...
The company ran up debts of 17.5 billion kip to cassava growers five years ago when it got into financial difficulties.
Only 4 billion kip of the total has been repaid to date.
In Vientiane’s Pakngum district alone, farmers sold 21 million tonnes of cassava worth almost 963 million kip to the company for processing at its tapioca factory in the district.
...
Cassava cultivation in Pakngum district is now fairly subdued.
Many farmers are disinclined to grow the crop because they are still indebted to banks as a result of their predicament.
This year, some farmers planted cassava, but in smaller quantities than in previous years with dried cassava then sold to Vietnamese traders.
Farmers want to know when they will get paid for all the cassava they grew and gave to the factory several years ago.
Many still owe money to district banks after borrowing to clear their land and plant cassava. Most of the farmers in question are now growing other crops, while some are pursuing other livelihoods'.

Sticks

And so we come to the end of a year, a year in which there's been precious little to report on topic-wise, certainly of any substance. 

How come? 

If anything, companies have been gaining ever more influence over governments worldwide, so much so that it's becoming increasingly hard to distinguish between the two. 

Possibly pushing hybrid rice as such has so little positives to mention (other than profits) that we aren't hearing anything about it. 

I suspect the leading companies involved, are just at the moment in a lull and certainly looking into what f.i. Europe has been trying to regulate in say the glyphosate case. 

Producing fake news also doesn't seem to work long term wise, so probably the main companies involved are doing a rethink. 

We'll soon learn what's in stall for us in the coming year ...

With the deteriorating (and need I suggest farcical?) political situation in Cambodia, the news (Phnom Penh Post, Dec. 8) that Italy wishes to arrest further EU imports from Cambodia might be viewed as being linked. The article suggests otherwise:

'Italy, along with six other European Union countries, has filed a fresh request to European Commission to limit the volume of rice imported from the Kingdom by activating a “safeguard clause” that allows EU member states to impose barriers to protect against trade imbalances.
The Italian government submitted an official request to the European Commission on November 20 calling for restrictions on the amount of imported rice entering the European market from Cambodia, according to a report yesterday by Euractiv news.
While the report called the request “trailblazing” and a more concerted effort compared to a similar submission to the commission in 2016, local industry insiders said that Italy’s statements usually fall on deaf ears and are an annual protectionist complaint.
...
Long Kemvichet, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said he was not worried about Italy’s recent request to limit rice exports, because the commission had never responded to such requests in the past'.

Though it's not linked, one can imagine that with the election run-in, the EU might want to give off a clearer sign that the road taken might not be exactly what they had in mind. And here's a stick ...

And concerning exports, state run Agence Kampuchea Press (Dec. 22) reports on the newest (upbeat) figures:

'For the first 11 months of 2017, Cambodia exported a total of 562,237 tons of milled rice, up 17.20 percent compared to the same period in 2016.
According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, during the period, Cambodian milled rice was exported to 63 countries around the world, mainly to China (164,979 tons), France (70,741 tons), Poland (41,469 tons), Malaysia (35,209 tons), Bangladesh (26,970 tons), England (25,889 tons).
By the end of November this year, rainy paddy rice cultivation ended successfully with 106.45 percent of the yearly plan, said the source'.

Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 11) adds:

'Approximately 45 percent of Cambodia’s total rice exports have gone to the European market, while 29 percent have gone to China alone.
According to Hean Vanhan, director general at the General Directorate of Agriculture, “based on the trend, rice exports should reach over 600,000 tonnes by the end of the year”.

So entry to Europe is quite essential for the Cambodian rice market.

From the Khmer Times (Dec. 13) this snippet of rice news:

'Next month the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) will hold the sixth edition of the Cambodia Rice Forum, bringing major stakeholders in the sector together to discuss the future of the local rice industry and create a joint effort to ramp up production and exports'.

Giant
I like this article (Phnom Penh Post, Dec. 27), just hope it's not all a write up to make the initiative seem positive. Read with me:

'A conservation scheme begun eight years ago in Preah Vihear province, in which farmers are recruited to grow organic rice for the international market in exchange for protecting local ecology, has successfully signed up 43 new families in Stung Treng province over the last year, according to a press release today.
An effort by Wildlife Conservation Society and BirdLife International, the Ibis Rice project guarantees incomes for participating farmers in selected conservation areas through the sale of organic rice above the market price. According to the statement yesterday, the 43 new families in Khek Svay village of Stung Treng’s Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary have committed to the project since last year. The project now has over 1,000 families participating, including in Preah Vihear’s Kulen Prom Tep and Chhaeb wildlife sanctuaries.
...
Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary covers 150,000 hectares and is home to about 20 percent of world population of the critically endangered giant ibis and half the world population of the critically endangered white-shouldered ibis'.

More initiatives, this time from the private sector. Amru Rice (Dec. 8) announces:

'The Cambodian Agriculture Cooperative Cooperation (CCAC) set to be completed in Kampong Thom province by the end of the year, is the first large-scale farm cooperative venture in Cambodia.
Funded by the European Union and local parties, the $3 million investment project will be located over 10 hectares and will process and store, rice, pepper, cashews, vegetables, and fruits ready for export.
Founder of CCAC and CEO of Amru Rice Cambodia Song Saran said rice will share about 60 percent of total storage of agricultural products, while pepper, cashews, vegetables and fruits, will be stored in the CCAC’s processing buildings, which has a storage capacity of up to 5,000 tonnes'.

More business on new ideas. The Khmer Times (Dec. 8):

'Cambodia and China will sign an agreement in the near future to support research on growing a new variety of rice in the kingdom, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
The proposed MoU, which is being negotiated by MAFF and its Chinese counterpart, will lay down the rules for cooperation between both nations in conducting studies on the rice variety known as oryza sativa japonica.
The ultimate goal is to grow the crop in the kingdom and export it to China, where demand for the rice variety is huge'.

I doubt whether this could be a success. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 1) reports on insurance for agriculture, mostly rice growing (I think):

'Officials in the agriculture sector yesterday called on relevant stakeholders to scale up initiatives for crop insurance schemes to help Cambodian farmers mitigate the risks of having their fields destroyed by flooding and drought.
Speaking at a workshop organised by German development agency GIZ, Mom Thany, undersecretary of state of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said enlarging the availability of crop insurance would help secure the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.
“The agricultural sector is most vulnerable to climate change,” she said. “Crop insurance protects farmer’s investments and ensures that even when a harvest fails, farmers have sufficient financial resources to reinvest and cover basic household needs like food and health care.”
Typical crop insurance initiatives that have been piloted in the Kingdom involve rice farmers paying into a scheme at the beginning of the growing season, with payments based on the size of the farm, type of paddy grown and technical tools used. In return, farmers get an insurance payout if their crop is assessed to be damaged by flood or drought'.

Poetic

Bangkok Post (Dec. 23) has an interesting article on the on-goings of rural Thailand:

'In July of this year, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha released his "Farmers' Soul-Soothing" poem to the press and the Thai public. He urged farmers: "Don't leave your home and farmland, leaving family behind, struggling to make a living locally."
His poem focuses on a number of prominent themes in rural development debates in Thailand: the migration of the young; the consequent ageing of those farmers left behind; the sustainability of agriculture; and the risks of leaving home.
...
This apparent ageing of farmers on the one hand, and farm size decline on the other, is also evident across the Southeast Asian region. The government and many agricultural economists see these trends as problematic.
...
The livelihoods that gradually came into view as our study progressed revealed not ageing farmers stubbornly holding onto their land, thus preventing the modernisation of the agriculture, but households struggling to build secure livelihoods against the inherited vulnerabilities of farming, a thinly woven social safety net, and the precariousness of much non-farm work'. 

The riceland is held as a fall back option, should this modern life one day fall apart.

For the government's role, The Nation (Dec. 18) notes:

'The government has been trying to promote its large-plantation policy  [for rice farmers] since last year with the ambitious goal of bringing farmers out of the “middle-income trap” by 2021. But farmer groups cannot help but wonder whether the policy has really increased their bargaining power.
“When I go to rice mills, I still feel powerless,” the manager of a large rice plantation in Khon Kaen province said on condition of anonymity recently.
Under the large-plantation policy, the government does not push farmers into working on the same plots of land. Rather, a shared management system is promoted that the government believes will help farmers lower their costs and boost their productivity'. 

So poetry is the government's best shot?

Scrap

There's been quite a few articles on rubber and cashew growing in the Khmer press lately.

Starting off with rubber.

Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 13) looks into the governments role:

'Despite a 31 percent increase in Cambodian rubber exports during the first 11 months of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture is failing to recoup on expenses it has spent sending expert technicians into the field in order to help boost production.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the government has spent $379,000 so far this year on technical support for rubber farmers and plantations, and has received only $299,000 back through revenue generated primarily through land rental fees.
...
Khoun Phalla, a director of the rubber department at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the government has established five teams of rubber experts that have been deployed across the country.
“We have helped the price of rubber,” he said. “It is now better for small-scale farmers.” Phalla added that the ministry’s experts have shown farmers how to increase yields at lower costs.
“What we have spent so far will be returned through higher profits from rubber farmers and that will eventually promote government revenue,” he said.
However, Hang Sreng, director of rubber exporter Long Sreng International, said that despite the government’s expert teams, the rubber sector would remain largely unprofitable unless the government scraps taxes.
“We do not make profits from rubber because we have to pay a lot of taxes and fees to the government and that makes us unable to compete,” he said. “The specialists have helped with efficiency, but that is not enough.”

The Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 18) has an article on the foreign interests in the kingdom's plantations:

"Socfin Cambodia, the local branch of a Europe-based international rubber producing company that currently operates a 7,500-hectare rubber plantation in Mondulkiri, has announced plans to open the doors to its first rubber factory next April, with an initial investment of $5.7 million, a company executive said last week.
Jef Boedt, general manager of Socfin Cambodia, said that since the company launched its rubber plantation in 2009, approximately 2,000 hectares of rubber have become harvestable, making it economically reasonable for Socfin to open its own processing factory.
...
According to Boedt, once the factory is operational it will have the capacity to produce 25 tonnes of dry rubber per day, or approximately 8,000 tonnes per year. He added that the company has not yet decided whether it will sell the rubber it produces directly to the international market or if it will continue selling through local traders.
International rubber prices have risen year-on-year, and Boedt said that he believes that trend will continue in 2018. “The probability that the price will go up is higher than the probability that the price will go down,” he said.
...
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Cambodia exported over 150,000 tonnes of rubber in the first 11 months of the year, amounting to total revenue of $249 million'.

Over to the cashew news. The Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 4) reports on how huge Vietnam's slice of the Cambodian cashew concern is:

'Vietnam, a major buyer of the Cambodian cashew nut, has unveiled a plan to purchase cashews in even greater volumes during next year’s harvest season, giving hope to farmers who rely on selling their crops at good prices from February through May.
Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon told The Post yesterday that Cambodian officials and the Vietnamese Cashew Association have been working together to form a committee on cashew production which is expected to draft an agreement to export more Cambodian cashews to its eastern neighbour.
...
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia is producing a total of about 104,268 tonnes of cashews annually. Most production comes out of the Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham provinces, which account for 29 percent and 18 percent respectively of the country’s total production.
During this past harvest season Vietnam bought around 102,000 tonnes of cashew nuts from Cambodia, explained Sakhon, with the few tonnes of cashews remaining being locally processed.
He added that Vietnam is currently importing about 1.2 million tonnes of cashews from India annually, and that it also exports about 3.2 million tonnes of processed cashews to international markets each year.
Um Uon, president of the Sambo Prey Kub Cashew Nut Association in Kampong Thom province, said yesterday that the prices of cashews this past harvest season were relatively good, coming in between 5,000 riel ($1.25) to 8,000 riel ($2) per kilo depending on quality'.

The Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 7) notes how the non-Vietnamese part of the value chain is to be propped up with help of South-Korean interests:

'Local agricultural firm Camcashew signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an obscure South Korean company yesterday with the aim of exporting 10,000 tonnes of processed cashew nuts next year, claiming that the two firms had reserved $100 million to fund the agreement.
Camcashew, a joint venture between a Cambodian and Malaysian firm, signed the MoU with Kim Ki Chul, president of South Korea’s Naroo Marine Company Limited.
Syaiful Hazreen, director of Camcashew, said yesterday that $80 million would be spent to purchase 40,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts while the remaining $20 million would be spent on purchasing a 400-hectare plot of land and machinery for processing the raw kernels.
...
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia produces a total of about 104,000 tonnes of raw cashews annually. Most production comes from the provinces of Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham, which account for 29 percent and 18 percent respectively.
In the first 11 months of this year, Cambodia exported 71,293 tonnes of raw cashews to Vietnam, Thailand, China and India. Vietnam alone absorbed 98 percent of these exports'.

Then back to Vietnam, which according to the Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 11) has set forward a benevolent idea:

'The Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) gave the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture a $66,000 grant late last week to support cashew production in the Kingdom, according to ministry officials.
According to Hean Vanhan, director general at General Directorate of Agriculture, the grant will go toward enacting a four-year plan that will see 1 million cashew trees planted on a new 500,000 hectare farm by 2022.
...
In the first 11 months of this year, Cambodia exported 71,293 tonnes of raw cashews to Vietnam, Thailand, China and India. Vietnam alone absorbed 98 percent of these exports [!]. Vietnam exports approximately 3.2 million tonnes of processed cashews to the international market each year'.

Then beyond the tried and trusted there are the new initiatives. The Phnom Penh Post (Dec 26):

'The Agriculture Ministry is set to sign a mango export investment deal with a Chinese firm worth up to $50 million, the second such deal in the country, Agriculture Minister Veng Sokhon said yesterday.'
...
Mong Reththa, vice chairman of the board of directors at Mong Reththy Group Co Ltd, said mangoes currently had the most potential for the international market, but farming techniques needed to be improved.
“In order to reach the international market, we need to have techniques and standards for maintaining a mango farm, then focusing on packaging and freezing,” he said.
The foreign investment deals would help spur family farms to adopt more technical methods and “add value for the farmer”, Reththa said. Kingdom Fruits International Co Ltd, a sister company of Mong Reththy Group, was the first to export mangoes abroad'.

Hazard

Then some more feedback concerning pesticides witnessed in Thai horticulture. 

The Nation (Dec. 3):

'Recent research has disclosed that serious contamination from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and herbicides in food and the environment poses health threats to the Thai public.
The research, from Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH) and Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN), found that Samut Sakhon had the highest levels of dioxin contamination. The level of contaminants known as polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PBDD/Fs) was 33 times higher than European Union standards, Meanwhile, 46 per cent and 55 per cent respectively of fruit and vegetables were found to contain pesticides and herbicides.
The organisations said that toxic substances posed serious health threats and the authorities had not put enough measures and regulations in place to protect the public'.

The Bangkok Post (Dec. 7) then demonstrates what consumer protectors are up against:

'Thai Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) will today submit a petition to the Ministry of Industry, asking it to ban the herbicide paraquat and the pesticide chlorpyrifos, while restricting the use of glyphosate.
'The petition is timed to coincide with a meeting of the ministry's committee on hazardous chemicals which will decide on the use of the pesticides. The petition urges the committee to classify paraquat and chlorpyrifos as a "hazardous" substance which will lead to a total ban on production, imports and exports or even buying and selling. Regarding glyphosate, the network wants the committee to monitor the use strictly.
...
Witoon Lianchamroon, director of Biothai, an advocacy group on sustainable agriculture, said he was worried the decision of the committee is likely to be swayed as two of the 10 members on the committee are from chemical companies. He said a report cited by the ministry that banning the chemicals will contribute to an economic loss of over 70 billion baht is also groundless'. 

Fake

Some bits and bobs to close this entry off.

The Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 7) reports on certification, I presume on cassava:

'In a bid to decentralise the certificates of origin (COs) process to help promote international exports and ease cross-border trade, the Ministry of Commerce launched a pilot project yesterday that allows officials in the provinces of Battambang and Pailin to directly issue certification'.

Meanwhile the Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 8) notes that palm sugar growers / traders have other problems:

'Takeo provincial authorities shut down 11 small-scale operations yesterday for making fake palm sugar, and say they have plans to close more
According to Lumpong Commune Police Chief Nob Phary, police have identified 43 palm sugar operations in Bati district that are suspected of cooking down white sugar to imitate the more expensive palm sugar'. 

Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 14):

'The Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts is urging provincial authorities to dissolve [really?] spurious palm sugar operations, after 43 sham sugar producers were shut down earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Minister Cham Prasidh ordered provincial officials to investigate and close any facility that appears to cut its Khmer palm sugar with similar substances, such as white sugar, in order to keep the industry in line with international standards'.

Then in a possible positive swing  Thailands The Nation (Dec. 17) reports that with the rubber boom rebounding forest encroachment may also be wound back:

'MID the plunging price of rubber latex to below Bt50 per kilogram, concerned officials are now eyeing the potential for eliminating the encroachment of rubber trees in forests. As well as returning forests back to nature, the move would help reduce the volume of latex and thus push up prices'.

Small talk

Sentimental

Robert Zeigler, director-general of International Rice Research Institute feels free to share his thoughts, most notably on anti-technology zealots, wow. COSMOS (the science of everything) magazine publishes an interview on it's website (Feb. 3):

'As an intellectual direct descendent of the architects of the Green Revolution it is truly heartbreaking to see their noble endeavours attacked by people claiming to defend the environment and the interests of the poor. I know as much as I know anything at all, that if we continue to listen to the shrill cries of anti-technology zealots we will be distracted from taking on and solving the most serious problems that face us and our grandchildren'. 

Aha, yes.

'Sadly, while we were working to make our dreams reality, the strange brew of anti-corporate sentiment, extreme environmentalism, romanticised traditional organic but land-hungry agriculture and fear of new technologies boiled over to create a powerful anti-technology backlash. The extreme regulations for GMO crops demanded by self-proclaimed protectors of the environment, had the perverse result that only the largest multinationals could afford to develop such crops. Predictably, this resulted in the same camp denouncing the growing domination of agriculture by multinationals. As costs for developing crop varieties escalated, the few seed companies that could afford the work focused only on areas with large markets. The marginal farmers were once again excluded.

This time, though, who is to blame?'. 

That's a cheap shot. IRRI itself is in the doldrums as they have no direction and seem to research only those rice growing regimes encouraged by big business, be they seed companies, fertilizer producers, pesticide producers or end-produce traders / exporters.

Heavily dependent on donors they are seeking more funds, preferably bigger funds with less strings attached, especially in regards to greener technologies. Under Zeigler, IRRI seeks to be more belligerent on non-significant goals such as Golden Rice or pipe dreams such as hybridisation / corporatisation of seed inputs while publicly shunning alternatives presented such as SRI or economics in their purest form (higher prices = more production). 

And though IRRI should be part of the solution, it seems to be more part of the problem. Soul searching?

Note also this article from GRAIN (30 April) in which they highlight the resistance to IRRI's Golden Rice, a sugar coated programme which IRRI fails to understand why resistance is mounting.

'Local farmer groups from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao numbering to 200 individuals converged and went to the gates of the Department of Agriculture to call on Secretary Proceso Alcala to disapprove the application for Golden Rice commercialization. They also brought and ate kamote (sweet potato) which contains five times more beta carotene than Golden Rice to show the DA that there are readily available, cheap and natural sources of Vitamin A'.

Recover

The main movement in the market has been the downward price trend as Thailand seeks to clear out stocks while they are rolling up their pledge programme. Not only are prices down, Thai exports are the flavour of the month once more.

Bangkok Post notes (3 April) that the Thai government seeks to double sales. Exports will rise by more than a quarter whereas those from India and Vietnam will drop by 5% and 10% respectively.

The Wall Street Journal (8 May) seems to be getting it wrong, drawing conclusions from two independent facts:

'Thailand’s rice exports are recovering after the government ended its controversial stockpiling policy'. 

The fact that Thailand would up its exports comes independently of the cessation of it's rice pledging scheme.

A week later (10 April), the same news outlet confirms that Thailand is back from it's sojourn from the world's rice markets. They quote the UN's FAO that  estimates that Thailand will estimate 8.7 million tonnes, just 0.8 million tonnes behind current leading exporter India and more than a million ton more than presumed third placing of Vietnam.

Opponents of the Thaksin regime in Thailand are hoping that the rice pledging scheme would the sword onto which they will fall, so reports the Nation (2 May). Not because the scheme failed, no because it might seem that the PM was too busy to oversee each and every meeting.

The Nation has an extensive article on the supposed end of the love affair between Thailand's rice farmers and government subsidies (6 May). And though that may be what they set out to do, it's more about the current unravelling of the rice-pledge scheme. Considering farmers felt it was such a success there's bound to be more of the same, once a government can once again rule.

Possibly the Thai PM will face impeachment procedures for her (non?) role in the rice pledging scheme (Nation, 8 May). 

No, wait for it, her opponents have found a different stick ...

Scrap

The change in the market is also affecting Cambodia where rice exports have dropped by 10% so reports the Cambodian Daily (11 April). It has also decimated rice exports from Cambodia to Thailand:

'Exports to Thailand for the first quarter of this year were virtually wiped out, falling from 13,000 tons in 2013 to 300 tons this year. Last year, Thailand was the sixth biggest importer of Cambodian rice, buying 23,550 tons'.

There are also wider implications as prices plummet. Cambodia's rice is relatively expensive to the market meaning that with lower prices and fixed (or even rising) costs for storage, transport and marketing, Cambodian is putting itself outside of the market. That's unless farmers are willing to accept lower prices. And with prices in a downward trend, traders are also making losses which will see them less willing / able to buy future stocks.

So it comes as no surprise that Phnom Penh Post reports (8 April) the following:

'The government-backed Rural Development Bank (RDB) will lend $64 million to Cambodia’s agriculture sector in 2014, the bank’s top official said yesterday.

Sun Kunthor, president of RDB, said most of the funding would be used to support growth in Cambodia’s rice sector as it strives to meet the government’s export target of one million tonnes by 2015.

“The rice sector needs more than $300 million to reach its full potential,” Kunthor said'.

But doomed to fail?

Dry season rice farm output in Cambodia is said to drop by 1.9%? So reports the Phnom Penh Post (7 April):

'The government commended the farmers’ efforts, citing a 2.5 per cent drop in producing land, due to the effects of flooding. On average, farmers actually increased their average tonnage per hectare from 4.1 tonnes in 2013 to 4.3 tonnes this year, according to the ministry'.

The FAO also suggests that Cambodia's total annual rice output would equal last years output, 9.4 million tonnes. So reports the Cambodia Daily (15 April):

'In its April rice market monitor report, issued quarterly, the FAO said as long as the industry does not encounter any major setbacks—such as floods between September and Novem­ber—Cam­bodia will produce 9.4 million tons of rice paddy, slightly up from last year'. 

It would certainly be interesting to see if the lower prices and the expected lower leakage to Thailand will have any effect on the output.

Other initiatives to stimulate rice exports. Custom fees are to disappear in Cambodia in an effort to assist rice exports, so reports the Phnom Penh Post (18 April):

'The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) will scrap customs fees for rice exporters from May 1 in an effort to reduce production costs and boost Cambodia’s competitiveness in the sector, according to a letter obtained by the Post.

“[The ministry] has agreed to eliminate charges relating to customs processing fees for exporters of rice in order to boost the rice export industry,” said the letter, signed by Department of Customs and Excise officials.

The letter goes on to say that the fee changes will become effective on May 1, in less than two weeks time.

The government’s changes to the customs tariff scheme have been welcomed by rice industry officials and economists.

Kim Savuth, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters (FCRE), said the government’s move will help cut production and export costs by at least $15 per shipping container'.

Indeed 15 $US per container so no huge incentive. The Cambodian Daily (29 April) adds:

'Lim Bunheng, chairman of both the Loran Import-Export Co. Ltd. and Cambodian Rice Exporter Association, said the directive would allow his company to save at least $15 per container.

Mr. Bunheng added that the tax change will help increase his milled rice exports, which last year amounted to 23,000 tons of milled rice.

“I plan to increase my rice exports by 50 percent more than last year,” he said.

Srey Chanthy, an independent economist, said although the tariff removal will be a boon to the industry, there still needs to be a greater focus on rice milling ca­pacity and quality to ensure that Cambodian rice meets international standards.

“[The tax break] will speed up the rice export process, and rice exporters will be able to sell more milled rice and make prices competitive in the international market,” he said'.

Up and down

With prospects for rice fading, there seems to be more attention for other crops.

Mangoes picture are a more rosy picture. Phnom Penh Post (4 April) has an interview with

'Mong Chanthol, the youngest son of agriculture business tycoon Mong Reththy. As the manager of Mong Reththy Group’s mango plantation and soon-to-be built mango packaging plant in Preah Sihanouk province, Chanthol says Cambodia is on its way to becoming the home of one of the world’s most luxuriously priced fruits – the Irwin mango'.

And what the future will bring:

'When we start to export the Irwin mango, we envisage it will be sold for $20 per kilo. Our farm currently has about 80,000 trees of Irwin mango and we will add another 50,000 trees by the end of this year. 

...

Tell us about the Mong Reththy Group’s businesses here in Preah Sihanouk.

Over the 30,000-hectare estate, we have a pig farm, palm oil, rubber and now mango plantations. About 60 people are employed in the mango business already. Maybe 250 people are employed in our pig farming operation and more than 5,000 in the palm oil operations during the high season.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity'.

And then a week later the same newsoutlet adds:

'Agriculture tycoon Mong Reththy yesterday confirmed a second shipment of Koe Romeat mangoes, twice the size of the first, will be headed for China this week from his Preah Sihanouk plantation'.

Rubber. The Phnom Penh Post (8 May) sees fit to repeat a Ministry of Commerce release on the national rubber market: exports are up, prices are down.

'The latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce show natural rubber exports grew 26 per cent during the first quarter of 2014, compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, overall revenue from natural rubber sales fell 28 per cent.

“Last year, rubber was selling at about $2,800 per tonne, but early this year, surprisingly, the price has dropped to as low as $1,980 per tonne,” Heng Sarath, deputy director of the General Directorate of Rubber, said, adding that prices had been on the decline since 2011'. 

A week later (16 May) the Cambodia Daily is a lot more pessimistic:

'Cambodia’s steadily declining rubber prices have hit critically low levels that are destined to only get worse as Thailand prepares to offload huge rubber stocks, the secretary-general of the Association for Rubber Development of Cambodia said Thursday.

As the price of natural rubber has paralleled a global price drop, tumbling to $1,500 per ton, down 31 percent since the start of the year when rubber was selling at $2,200 per ton, Men Sopheak said the industry has been thrown into disarray.

“Falling prices have led to processing factories pausing operations because they are struggling to cover labor costs,” Mr. Sopheak said. “The farmers are getting very little profit and if the price drops further they will be making a loss.”

Approximately 30 to 40 percent of the 60 factories in Cambodia that process raw rubber have suspended operations and farmers are working with narrowing profit margins, he said'. 

The culprit is yet again Thailand as the rubber scheme is now unravelling.

The World Banks is scrutinizing it's portfolio. Maybe the postponement of planting is a blessing in disguise. The Phnom Penh Post (8 May) notes:

'Controversial Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) has suspended part of its operations in Ratanakkiri province amid an investigation by the World Bank’s investment arm into claims of land grabbing, a company memorandum reveals.

...

Last year, UK-based NGO Global Witness published a report accusing HAGL of illegally logging outside concession areas and being in possession of at least 47,000 hectares of economic land concessions – almost five times the legal limit.

The IFC, Deutsche Bank and, later, Credit Suisse were all singled out for investing in HAGL. Deutsche Bank subsequently divested, while Credit Suisse claimed that its holdings predated the Global Witness report'.

Longan growing another alternative? The Phnom Penh Post (16 May) notes:

'The amount of land used to grow longans has doubled in the past two years, but a lack of supply-chain infrastructure is hampering farmers’ ability to get top dollar for their product, the fruit’s body says.

Sreng Sreang, deputy director of the Pailin Longan Farmers’ Community (PLFC), said the fruit growers are in desperate need of storage facilities to hold large amounts of their stock in order to avoid being left with an oversupply at the end of the harvest season between January and March, which in turn brings prices down'.

Away from rice, palm oil looks set to be in for a hard time. The Nation (11 May) reports that weather patterns will affect Southeast Asian output, meaning higher prices for consumers. And one would believe higher prices for farmers?

It's the dry season, so no wonder news is about the drought. Drought affecting production. Bangkok Post (12 April): 

'Rice, sugar and rubber output in Thailand is at risk because of prolonged drought, according to the government forecaster, which warned that the dry conditions may be aggravated by the development of an El Nino this year'.

(Too) small fry?

Local initiatives taking off, this time in Laos. The Vientiane Times reports (12 April):

'Overseas customers are showing keen interest in buying Khao Kataven (‘Sun' brand rice) after it gained Lao government ‘One District, One Product' (ODOP) approval at the end of last year.

The product is produced by the Khamphengphet Chengsawang Export and Import Co. Ltd. in Nasiew village, Naxaithong district, Vientiane.

“Companies from Korea, China and Thailand are currently studying the quality of the rice; we are still in negations and it will take time for us to complete export contract negotiations,” company director, Mr Khampheng Sengthavy told Vientiane Times on Tuesday.

“The markets in these countries need good quality rice, especially organic rice, for selling within their country,” he said'. 

The article though fails to mention how much is sold over the Lao borders, out of their total produce of 7,000 tons.

An interesting research was reported in the Oryzae.com website (15 April). Apparently bats are a common enemy of plant hoppers. Thailand -wide savings are nearly 3,000 tons which can be increased with the use of so-called bat roosting boxes.

More local iniatives, that of Ibis Rice. The Phnom Penh Post (5 May) reports:

'The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) says its Ibis Rice project has recorded a production surplus for the first time in its five-year history, prompting a bid to export the boutique product overseas.

Concentrated in Preah Vihear province, Ibis Rice farmers produced more than 435 tonnes of organically grown, fragrant Malis rice during the 2013-14 harvest season, up 54 per cent from the previous season, according to a WCS report.

The Ibis Rice project is operated by NGO Sansom Mlup Prey (SMP) and pays farmers a premium of up to 150 riel ($0.03) per kilogram more than other local buyers. In return, farmers commit to strict regulations barring them from additional land clearances, thereby protecting surrounding wildlife areas including the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary.

...

David Van, deputy general secretary of the Alliance of Rice Producers & Exporters of Cambodia, commended the Ibis Rice project’s design; however, he warned that it is
a tough export market for small producers.

“I would honestly say an annual production of . . . less than 500 tonnes is negligible,” Van said in an email.

“Ibis’ format/approach is far too small in cultivated surface area and tonnage produced to be at anytime commercially viable,” he added, citing the project’s premium buying stance as a potential
set back'.