Surge

The usual:

Rice in Cambodia. In the wider region. The alternatives. Wider rural issues. And a parting shot at Monsanto.
That's all.

Cambodia thus. 
Vietnamplus.vn (May 7) looks at the latest rice export statistics, which reveal that China is putting it's money where it's mouth is:

'Cambodia’s rice exports to China have surged strongly after the European Union (EU) imposed duties on rice imports from the Southeast Asian nation, the World Bank (WB) said on May 6.
The EU in January imposed tariffs for three years on rice imported from Cambodia and Myanmar to curb an increase in imports from those two countries and to protect EU producers such as Italy.
Cambodia has filed a challenge with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against the duties.
According to the WB’s country economic update, after the tariffs were imposed, Cambodia’s milled rice exports to the EU in February were only 10,080 tonnes, a 57.8 percent decline from the previous month.
Cambodia exported 270,000 tonnes or 43 percent of its total milled rice exports to the EU in 2018, the WB said.
The decline in Cambodia’s rice exports to the EU was more than offset by the increase in the country’s rice exports to the Chinese market, the WB said in its report.
Cambodia’s rice exports to China grew by 45.6 percent, and it managed to increase its overall exports of rice by 2 percent during the first two months of the year'.

The above comes hot on the heels of the Khmer Times (Apr. 26) revealing:

'China will agree to buy 400,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice in a memorandum of understanding that will be signed tomorrow in Beijing, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce'.

More Chinese investment (Khmer Times, May 27) too:

'In a meeting with Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak, Bi Guangmin, chairman of the board of Henan at Yuguang International Economic and Technical Cooperation, unveiled plans to build a warehouse and a silo with a capacity to store up to 1 million tonnes of rice'.

On the storage subject. The Phnom Penh Post (May 28):

'With more plans for rice storage and silos in Cambodia, industry insiders have expressed their optimism that a lack of facilities will not pose a challenge for the Kingdom’s rice market this year.
Cambodian Rice Federation vice-president Norng Veasna said thanks to efforts from the private sector’s rice millers and support from state institutions, the harvest season this year will not see the same issues as in the past few years.
Drying silos and rice storage facilities can currently be found in almost every province'.

The last Cambodian rice news snippet: the  Khmer Times (May 28) notes efforts being made to add Japonica rice to the palette of rice exports:

'Minister of Agriculture Veng Sakhon last week said that tests on Japonica rice have ended, yielding encouraging results. Those tests were being conducted in Kampong Thom province, and show that yields of Japonica are nearly twice as big as those of other varieties grown in the Kingdom.

A hectare of land planted with Japonica can produce 6.5 tonnes of rice, Mr Sakhon said in a post on the ministry’s Facebook page. On average, a hectare in Cambodia yields 3.5 tonnes of rice.

...

Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice, said Japonica has great potential but that Cambodia is still not ready to plant it for commercial purposes.

“After many tests, we have concluded that Japonica rice can grow well in Cambodia with very high yields,” he said.

“However, the variety needs a lot of water, so we must now study how to reduce the amount of water required,” said Mr Saran, whose firm has also conducted tests on the variety'.

Shifts
Looking at the wider region and rice, just a limited amount of news.

Thailand's official subsidies for rice are directed to high-input rice growing. But they also seem to be interested in low-input rice cultivation. The Nation (May 28):

'The Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the German government's international co-operation agency on Friday announced the launch of a joint public-private project aimed at transforming the central plains of Thailand to low-carbon rice farming.

...

Under this project, some 100,000 local rice farming households covering 2.8 million rai of rice fields in six provinces of Chainat, Angthong, Pathum Thani, Sing Buri, Ayutthaya, and Suphan Buri would shift to a sustainable method of rice-growing. This is intended to increase their productivity while also cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to the rising global temperature, the minister said.

The project - having a revolving fund and providing training to farmers - would have farmers shifting from their current method of rice growing to apply the low greenhouse gas-emitting way, use appropriate rice seed strain and related technologies (such as the land-levelling, the alternated wet and dry water management for rice fields, the fertiliser application based on soil testing and analysing, and the rice straw and stubble management to avoid applying a haze-creating method of burning)'. 

Then the Phnom Penh Post (Apr. 30) looks at rice exports from Laos:

'Laos is anticipating reduced income from rice exports this year in the wake of widespread flooding across the country last year.
The country set a target of $45.6 million for rice exports last year but could only achieve $31.4 million, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
This year, the government is expecting to earn only $25.2 million from rice exports, a significant decline compared to last year’s figure'.

Instead

On the developing of alternatives to rice growing, there's lots of Cambodian related news reports on bananas.
Phnom Penh Post (Apr. 30):

'Cambodia can now directly export yellow bananas to China, without relying on Vietnam as an intermediary, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announcement said.
The General Directorate of Agriculture under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Monday announced that to send bananas directly to the Chinese market, exporters must comply with certain requirements'.

Khmer Times (May 2) chimes in:

'Five Cambodian companies have been given permission to export bananas directly to China, the Ministry of Agriculture announced earlier this week.
The announcement follows the signing of a protocol on the exportation of bananas in August between China and Cambodia, an agreement that effectively allows Cambodia to ship the fruit to China.
According to the ministry, five local companies are now allowed to export directly to China after a group of Chinese experts visited their farms in Cambodia and gave them the nod'.

 And then (Khmer Times, May 10):

'Cambodia yesterday began the process of sending its first shipment of bananas to the Chinese market, after five local companies were greenlighted by the Chinese government last month.
During a ceremony attended by Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon, 100 tonnes of bananas were stored at a warehouse in Phnom Penh, ready to the shipped to the Chinese market.
No official date has been given as to when the shipment will take place'.

Khmer Times (May 13) has an interview with a banana industry leader:

'Mr Hun Lak [Longmate Agriculture director]: Our investment, which was approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia last year, sits on 1,000 hectares of land located in Chhuk district, Kampot province. The capital investment is about 32 million dollars. We have planted yellow bananas on over 400 hectares of land and so far our plantation has run for 15 months. This year, we expect to send 22,000 tonnes of fresh bananas to the Chinese market, and expand to 33,000 tonnes a year by 2020. About 120 tonnes of fresh bananas, equivalent to six containers, have been packed at our packaging house facility in Kampot province and was loaded onto the ship on May 11 ready to be sent to China. It would take about 10 days to get to the destination, namely: Dalain, Shanghai and Shenzhen cities in China. Our banana shipment to the market will pass Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port. If the Sihanoukville port is busy, we will carry through the Phnom Penh port instead'.

Vietnamplus.vn (May 3) looks at neighbouring Laos and bananas:

'Banana is expected to be Laos' top agricultural export in 2019 despite the local government’s ban on the expansion of plantations around the country, according to local daily Vientiane Times.
In 2017, the Southeast Asian country earned 167.9 million USD from banana exports. The figure dipped to 112 million USD in 2018, but is expected to rise to 168 million USD in 2019, according to the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The bulk of the crop will be sold to China and some to Thailand'.

Trends
Differing crops, differing prospects.
The Phnom Penh Post (May 22) on coffee:

'Vietnam's coffee exports have fallen in both volume and value terms this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It exported 629,000 tonnes worth $1.1 billion in the first four months, a year-on-year decrease of 13.4 per cent in volume and 22.5 per cent in value.
The trend is forecast to continue this month, the ministry said'.

Khmer Times (May 23) on silage:

'Japanese company Applied Natural Products (ANP) is planning to invest in the production of sorghum silage in Battambang province'.

Khmer Times (May 10) yet again with regards to black pepper:

'Production of renowned Kampot pepper, one of Cambodia’s only two products to be registered as a Geographical Indication in the European Union, will increase substantially this year, the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association said.
The association projects a 69-tonne hike in yields, meaning that about 90 tonnes will be produced.
However, the figure is lower than that of 2017, when more than 100 tonnes were produced, said Ngoun Lay, the association’s president'.

Khmer Times (Apr. 30) on the kingdoms rubber:

'Rubber production increased by 32 percent in the first quarter of the year, with most of it shipped abroad, according to the latest official report'.

Spoils
Besides banana's, there's plenty more fruit news. 
The Khmer Times (May 21):

'Cambodia hopes to start exporting longan to Thailand in the near future, with the two countries planning to sign an agreement on phytosanitary requirements.
Longan is poised to become the second agricultural product officially exported to Thailand following mango.
...
Un Theng, representative of an agricultural community in Pailin province, said the fruit is grown across the province, with annual yields of 7,000 tonnes.
He said the fruit now fetches from 4,000 riel ($1) to 5,000 riel ($1.25) per kilogram, adding that it is mostly bought on-site by visiting Thai merchants.
“We asked the General Department of Agriculture to conduct work on phytosanitary requirements so that the fruit can be exported legally to Thailand.”
However, even after the countries sign the protocol, Mr Theng said exporting the fruit will be troublesome.
“The General Department of Agriculture would likely require that we have a certificate for every shipment. However, we export the fruit on a daily basis and cannot wait to obtain the certificate because then the fruit could spoil,” he said.
“We want to be able to ship as much as we want with just one certificate,” he said.
He noted that a Chinese company is now building a longan processing and treatment factory in the province.
“As far as I know, the company will purchase our longan. We will be able to choose: we can sell to the Thais or to the Chinese,” he said, adding that the factory is now 80 percent complete'.

Khmer Times (May 7) rejoices on export opportunities for mangoes:

'Five local mango farms were inspected by Korean officials in March, but the results of the inspection have not been made public yet, the Ministry of Agriculture revealed this week'.

But this is not all good news. The Khmer Times (May 14):

'The first shipment of Cambodian mangoes to South Korea will be delayed after the exporter failed to meet sanitary and phytosanitary requirements in the Korean market'.

Hmmm.
Better to dry. The Khmer Times (May 15):

'A Philippine firm will soon start exporting Cambodian dried mango to the Philippines and other markets, the Philippine ambassador recently revealed'.

Khmer Times (May 16) on oranges from Battambang:

'Oranges from Battambang and Pursat may become the next product to be awarded geographical indication (GI) status in Cambodia, with the Minister of Commerce now considering whether they deserve the label'.

More downsides, especially concerning the weather prospects. Or is the climate?
The Khmer Times (May 15):

'Durian production in Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces will decrease this year due to unfavourable weather conditions, according to the provincial agriculture departments'.

 Thailand is not much better of. The Nation (Apr. 24):

'The current drought and extreme summer heat could damage half of Uttaradit’s crop of iconic Long and Lin Laplae durians, the provincial governor and farmers fear.
The much-loved varieties fetch over Bt1,000 per kilogram in fruit retail sales or a Bt50,000 reservation fee per tree even before it bears fruit. But this lower northern province has this year already seen many durian, langsat and longkong trees wither'.

Against
Some more broader societal issues.
Inclusivedevelopement in a slightly dated article (Mar. 29) notes:

'Twelve indigenous communities in Cambodia’s northeastern province of Ratanakiri scored a major victory today when the government announced it was returning to them 20 spirit mountains and dozens of other spiritually significant areas that had been grabbed by the Vietnamese agribusiness giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL). The communities have been embroiled in a decade-long land conflict with HAGL since their ancestral lands were granted to the company to develop large-scale rubber plantations.
...
The 2014 complaint related to the IFC investment in Dragon Capital’s VEIL fund, which bankrolled HAGL’s agribusiness ventures in Cambodia and Laos. In 2016 and 2017, IFC bought equity stakes totaling $125 million in two other Vietnamese financial institutions, TP Bank and VP Bank. The banks then went on to provide financing of more than $200 million dollars to HAGL, specifically to fund its rubber plantations in Cambodia, despite the pending complaint with the CAO.
The new 117-page complaint provides extensive evidence of environmental and human rights violations resulting from HAGL’s wholesale clearance of intact forests, waterways, pastures, orchards, spirit forests, graveyards and other sacred areas belonging to indigenous communities in Ratanakiri. The communities are particularly concerned about the loss of reserved land for practicing shifting cultivation, their traditional form of agriculture, and declining soil fertility on their current farming land if they are unable to shift to other areas. These cumulative losses have seriously eroded the communities’ sovereignty over their land and system of food production and consumption, which is deeply interconnected with their identity and way of life'.

Thailand's Nation (May 20) on government policies:

'The project to set up a sugar factory and a connected bagasse-fuelled power plant is posing a threat to one of the world’s renowned jasmine rice varieties – the Thung Kula Rong Hai – according to locals living in the Pathumrat district of Roi Et province.

Raising concerns about the project, locals have now rallied behind the Pathumrat Conservation Group.

“We are against the project,” the group’s core member Prayom Sa-ngiam-rat said, after submitting the signatures of more than 2,000 locals to the Roi Et governor to show the extent of local opposition.

...

Chainarong Sretthachau, a lecturer at the Mahasarakham University, disclosed that there were now nearly 30 projects to build both a sugar plant and a biomass plant at the same site in the country’s Northeast.

“This is a result of the current government’s policy to increase sugarcane plantations in the region without caring about possible adverse impacts,” he said.

Locals are worried that such large industrial operations will use lots of groundwater and local farmers will suffer. They also suspect that the power plant may consider using coal, if there are not enough bagasse for its power generation.

“We in fact should think about such industrial operations’ impacts on paddy fields,” Chainarong said.

He said the Thung Kula way of life was about people working in their paddy fields during the rainy season and herding their cattle during the dry season.

“If paddy fields in the area are replaced by sugarcane plantations, there will be no place for cattle. And very likely farmers will fall under the control of contract farming,” he warned'.

Blows
May (the month, not the Brexit PM) proved to be dark month for Monsanto and thus Bayer:
Guardian (May 7):

'Ever since Monsanto introduced its line of Roundup weedkillers to the world in 1974, the products have been touted by the company and regulators as extremely safe. The EPA reiterated that stance last week.
But the emergence of long-held corporate secrets in three public trials has revealed a covert campaign to cover-up the pesticide’s risks and raised troubling questions about lax oversight of all pesticides by the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies that are supposed to be protecting public health'.

This article really reveals how the company used the system to it's benefits. Or better said, Monsanto was allowed to design the system itself.

Buzzfeed (May 13):

'A California jury awarded $2 billion on Monday to an elderly couple that developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after years of using Monsanto's popular weed killer Roundup, delivering a major blow to the agrochemical giant'.

Japan Times (May 13):

'Germany’s Bayer apologized Sunday after revelations in France that its subsidiary Monsanto had a PR agency collate lists of politicians, scientists and journalists and their views on pesticides and GM crops'.

ewg (May 29): 

'Monsanto paid a shadowy chemical industry front group to help push back against the mounting scientific evidence that the company’s signature Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, court documents reveal'.

Reuters (May 30):

'Los Angeles County sued Monsanto Co on Thursday, seeking to force the unit of Germany’s Bayer AG to help pay for reducing PCB contamination in dozens of bodies of water'.

And what does this add to the hybrid rice discussion?
Ultimately hybrid rice is being pushed as the next big thing. However the precious little reporting in favour of hybrid rice is now also circumspect. Companies themselves can't be trusted but also seems that these corporations will do everything to tinker the system of societal checks and balances to their favour. Even buying independent thinking (see f.i. earlier postings on Nobel laureates backing  Golden Rice) has to been regarded as suspicious. 
Very few different thinkers and publishers remain ...

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'.