Failed

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

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

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

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

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

Best

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 The Nation (Oct. 15):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Nation (Oct. 10):

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

Risky

The Guardian (Jul. 15) has an interesting article on what may lie ahead in terms of dealing with climate change directly. 
The study mentions does limit itself to maize, but one can imagine that if wheat would likewise become vulnerable, it could well have direct effect on rice / rice prices as rice will become a substitute crop:

'Governments may be seriously underestimating the risks of crop disasters occurring in major farming regions around the world, a study by British researchers has found.

...

The group found there is a 6% chance every decade that a simultaneous failure in maize production could occur in China and the US – the world’s main growers – which would result in widespread misery, particularly in Africa and south Asia, where maize is consumed directly as food.

...

Having studied the risks facing maize production, the group is now following up this work by studying climate impacts on the world’s other staple crops – in particular rice, wheat and soya beans – in order to assess how weather extremes could affect their production'.

Furthermore as most rice growing areas are grown in low lying  areas, indirectly higher rainfall and higher sea levels will affect rice output. A double whammy?

To confirm
A possible major breakthrough. Bangladesh may well be interested in Cambodian rice (Daily Star, Jul. 27), large scale. The only thing btw, counting in Cambodia's favour is it's lower price. The Khmer Times (Aug. 1) is pretty sure:

'Cambodia will reach an agreement with Bangladesh tomorrow for the kingdom’s rice to be exported to the South Asian country, according to an official in the Commerce Ministry.

“Under the deal, Bangladesh will import 1 million tonnes of milled rice from Cambodia for 5 years,” said Soeung Sophary, the ministry’s spokesperson yesterday'.

Other rice business news. The Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 12) reports on the exports obtained:

'Cambodian rice exports increased marginally during the first half of the year as export companies push to fulfil higher quotas destined for China.

Rice exports totalled 288,562 tonnes in the first six months of the year, an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the latest data published by the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.

Exports to China accounted for 94,000 tonnes compared to France’s 37,000 tonnes and Poland’s 25,000 tonnes.

Despite the uptick in growth, Hean Vanhan, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, admitted that the figures showed a slow growth trend. He urged the private sector to increase capacity and secure more international orders to strengthen export potential'.

The China Daily (Jul. 8) chimes in but somehow is more upbeat:

'Cambodia exported 94,720 tons of milled rice to China in the first six months of 2017, up 101 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a government report on Friday'.

Elsewhere on the rice business front. The Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 12):

'Amru Rice, one of Cambodia’s largest rice exporters, signed a contract farming purchase agreement with 4,000 organic rice farmers in Preah Vihear province, reserving about $7 million to purchase nearly 20,000 tonnes of organic paddy during the upcoming harvest season, according to a press release yesterday'.

Then some sideline business. 
The Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 6) reports this curious note:

'The Preah Vihear Provincial Agriculture Department on Monday ordered its staff to help farmers by buying up invasive golden apple snails that are currently destroying their rice fields, according to the head of the department'.

While the Khmer Times (Jul. 3) shows how Sino-Cambodian rice business is dealt with:

'A feasibility study into the possibility of establishing a series of warehouses and kiln for rice farmers is exploring how to improve the quality of storage in the industry.

...

Mr Lak [vice president of Cambodia Rice Federation] could not confirm where the first warehouse and kiln will be located, but according to Jin Yu Hui, vice governor of Jilin province, Battambang is the priority area'.

Up
As is seen by the above the region has also been counting how much rice was exported in the first half of the year and simultaneously spinning some other rice news.

Vietnembreakingnews (Jul. 6) kicks off:

'Vietnam’s rice output during the winter-spring crop was estimated at 19.1 million tonnes, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development'.

Oddly the Bangkok Post (Jul. 6) reports on Vietnam:

'Vietnam has outlined plans to boost revenues from rice exports over the next decade by focusing on a higher quality product and selling more outside Asia.

The world's third-biggest rice producer wants to boost production of higher-quality 5% and 10% broken rice and decrease output of 15% broken rice, according to a paper published on the government's website.

...

Last year, the country's total rice exports fell by 27% to 4.8 million tonnes as it faced rising competition from Asian rivals, as well as policy changes in China and a fall in domestic production due to drought and high water salinity.

Exports rebounded 14% in the first half of this year to an estimated 2.96 million tonnes'.

Continuing with Vietnam, Vietnamnet (Jul. 9) reports which seems to disregard the above that already 4.8 million tonnes are being exported:

'Vietnam aims to export 4 million tonnes of rice in 2030 under a 2017-2020 rice export development strategy with a vision to 2030 recently approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc'.

What am I missing?
Then the Bangkok Post (Aug. 2) reports on Thailand: 

'Thailand is likely to export 11 million tonnes of rice this year, higher than its target, Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said on Wednesday.

"Thailand is negotiating rice deals with many countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," Ms Apiradi told reporters.
"This will help improve Thai rice prices and push our export volume up to 11 million tonnes," she said.
Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter after India, set an export target of 10 million tonnes for 2017.
It has exported 6.3 million tonnes of rice so far this year, an increase of 16% from the same period last year'.

Hurts
Away from the data news, the region has more to note on rice growing and business in general.
The Vientiane Times (Aug. 1) realizes that dealing with China is not so easy:

'Rice exports from Laos to China have been affected by the high standard conditions formulated by Chinese authorities, according to a leading Lao rice producer.
...

A Chinese company ordered 7,200 tonnes of rice last year but the country was unable to supply this amount as the standard required by Chinese buyers is very high, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported'.

Agriculture.com (Jul. 6) blames lower prices on the Thai junta's policy of pushing foreign workers out:

'"Prices have gone down because the baht has weakened," a trader in Bangkok said. The mass exodus of migrant workers since June 23 following the introduction of new labour regulations by the Thai military government has also hit the Thai rice industry with labour shortages.
"The shortage of workers at warehouses and at the docks has led to delay in the loading of shipment and this has hurt exporters' confidence in their ability to fulfil shipments," said another Bangkok-based rice trader.
More than half of the labour force in the Thai rice industry are migrant workers from neighbouring Cambodia and about three quarters of this workforce have left the country, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
The Thai government has since delayed parts of the new labour law, but many migrant workers have yet to return.
"Thai exporters hesitate to take new order because of the labour shortage and many potential international buyers are thinking twice about buying Thai rice because of this uncertainty," Chookiat said.
The labour shortage could raise the cost of production of Thai off-season crop, he said, which is expected to arrive from around August to September'.

Vietnamplus (Jul. 4) shares with us, news from Thailand:

'Thailand’s rice insurance scheme for this year’s first crop began on July 3 after it was approved by the cabinet last week.

The programme, worth 2 billion THB (around 58.84 million USD), will be run by the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).

It is expected to be applied on 25-30 million rai (40.000- 48.000 square kilometres) of rice farmland and cover insurance for natural disasters, including floods, droughts, storms, cold, hail and fires'.

Counter
While the Thai nation is waiting to be brought up to terms with what punishment the junta will implement on it's democratic predessor (for a popular free hand-out to all rice farmers), The Nation (Jul. 15) opens up about current practices in the rice business:

'Govt accused of rice sale irregularities 
MEMBERS of the Pheu Thai Party have asked the Auditor General to investigate the government’s programme of rice auctions dating to the 2014 coup, alleging irregularities that have caused losses to the state.

The party members led by Yuttapong Charasathein, a former deputy minister of agriculture and Cooperatives, yesterday filed a complaint with the Office of the Auditor General over the alleged irregularities.

Chief among their concerns is that rice fit for human consumption had been declared low grade, and was auctioned off for animal feed and industrial purposes. The sale of rice stocks classified in that category fetched lower prices and, the MPs claim, resulted in reduced government revenue.

...

Deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, Keerati Rushchano, yesterday denied an allegation made by the Pheu Thai members that that the irregularities in the government’s rice auctions had caused losses of around Bt10 billion.

He said department did not approve a bid to pay Bt11.25 per kilogram for food-grade rice at one auction because the offer did not meet minimum price threshold set by the authorities. While authorities approved Bt 6.10 per kilogram in a later round auction because the bulk of that rice was not food grade.

...

Meanwhile, Somporn Isvilanonda, a rice expert and member of the committee examining rice quality, said that the Pheu Thai politicians might be trying to play political games with their complaint to the Auditor General. He assured that the rice auctions were transparent'.

Extraordinarily the Bangkok Post (Jul. 19) follows suit and tries to expand on the Nation:

'Even though the military government has vowed to push for reforms in a number of key areas, it seems to have overlooked a critical issue also in need of reform: The management of the state's rice stockpiles.

...

For decades, the Department of Foreign Trade, under the Commerce Ministry, annually called for bids for state rice stocks to unload pledged rice kept in government warehouses under the rice subsidy policy of previous governments.

Scandals have similarly arisen regarding the ministry's rice-bidding scheme almost every year. Rice auctions under this government are no exception. So what, exactly, is going on?

Taking a closer look at the political interests as well as established personal connections within the realm of rice trading helps shed light on the problem.

Rice is always a valuable political commodity frequently exploited by politicians as a tool to woo votes from farmers. Moreover, numerous politicians or their relatives are rice traders or exporters themselves.

While there are many players in the domestic rice trade, many of them are in fact from the same group. For example, several companies participating in the same state auctions for agricultural products have been found to be subsidiaries of the same major rice-exporting corporations.

In addition, some major rice traders have strong ties with political players. They have long developed close relationships with state officials, potentially influencing their decision-making process.

...

A recent controversy over "the unfair disqualification" of a bidder in the latest round of rice auctions, exposed to the media by former Democrat MP Watchara Petchthong, is telling.

TPK Ethanol Co, earlier filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court accusing the Department of Foreign Trade of unfairly disqualifying its winning bid in a 525,000-tonne rice auction in April, even though it offered the highest price.

The court late last month issued an injunction order to suspend the Department of Foreign Trade's auctions for 2.7 million tonnes of inedible rice which was meant to go to the animal feed industry.

In a written response to the company, the department said that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, as the national rice policy committee chairman, and Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya, as the deputy chairman, had approved the disqualification.

The department's director-general Duangporn Rodphaya said TPK Ethanol had been ruled out because one of its managers served as a director at two companies which had been found to have breached a contract with the department 20 years ago in a cassava price-pledging scheme.

...

In response, TPK Ethanol executives submitted a letter to the Supreme Administrative Court countering the department's appeal.

The company claims the department's move was discriminatory and applied a "double standard", saying there were three other companies which were not eligible for the auction but were allowed to take part in it anyway.

The first company is comprised of a group of rice traders who were also found to have breached an auction contract last year under a different business entity. The company's board of directors is the same as those of the previous entity, the letter said.

The second company, it alleges, was implicated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for its involvement in a corruption case related to the government-to-government rice trading scheme implemented by the former government. One of the company's directors is even a suspect facing charges by the NACC, the letter said.

The third one is a rice company which had a dispute with the department over rice auctions but was allowed to join the auction after registering itself under a new company name, said TPK Ethanol.

...

Another allegation, raised by some Pheu Thai Party members, regarding the rice bidding management scheme under this government, is also awaiting a clear-cut response.

Pheu Thai Party members, led by Yuttapong Charasathein, former deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister, accused the military government of selling 2.14 million tonnes of fragrant rice as animal feed at a knockdown price.

Some traders proposed to buy rice from the government at 11.25 baht per kilogramme but their proposals were declined. But the state later sold the rice at 6.10 baht a kilogramme. This problem existed in 18 warehouses, they claim.

This practice has caused heavy losses in the government's rice stock disposals, while the buck has been passed to the last government, they said.

Although the department claims that the rice was sold at such a low price because its quality had deteriorated and was thus inedible, it has yet to provide the public with a satisfactory answer'.

Bangkok Post (Jul. 31) notes :

'Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd has accused politicians and rice mill owners who are calling for a new inspection of rice stocks under the controversial rice-pledging scheme of being part of a politically-motivated movement. 

...

Previously, the owners of eight rice warehouses had called on the government to conduct a new round of quality checks on rice under the scheme, saying they weren't confident in the results of past

inspections conducted by officials. According to warehouse owners, normal rice was auctioned along with rice used for producing animal feed, which is a waste of money. They claimed they weren't aware of the government's intention to sell the rice as ingredients in animal feed until the days on which the auctions were held. They added their move should help prevent further losses that could be worth several billion baht'.

After this come a couple of examples and legal arguments'.

So even if convicted, it seems that there will be no end to popularizing and using rice as a stick with which to hit political opponents. Why I beg, should the government be meddling not only in setting prices but in trade as well?

Fairness
Back to Cambodia, where prices of corn have lead to protests. The Cambodia Daily (Jul. 17):

'After about 500 protesting farmers blockaded a national road in Battambang province last week, local authorities in neighboring districts are now making efforts to placate hundreds of other farmers also restless over depressed corn and cassava prices.

In Banteay Meanchey province’s O’Chrou district, district governor San Sien Ho said yesterday that he had been pre-empting possible protest by visiting local families and asking for patience, though he admitted there was little authorities could do.

...

On Thursday, corn farmers in Battambang’s Kamrieng district blocked National Road 57B for more than eight hours and called on the government to find a solution to their plight. The following day, farmers and local officials met for six hours, and tycoon Phou Puy offered to buy their corn and dry it himself. Farmers, however, said the offered price of 3.4 baht, or about $0.10, per kilogram wasn’t enough'.

Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 17) reports on the same:

'Farmers in two Battambang districts shut down major roads over the weekend, in protest of low corn prices, according to local officials.

Song Sopheak, Phnom Proek district police chief, said that around 100 families blocked the roads in his district on Saturday for more than two hours. Sopheak said the villagers drove tractors onto national roads 59B and 57, demanding authorities help negotiate a better price.

“They said this year the corn price is down, so they want the authority to help them negotiate with the broker. They said this year the broker only gives them 3.1 baht [around $0.09] per kilo of corn. So now the villagers want 3.4 baht, and the dealers agreed to buy with this price,” Sopheak said, adding that last year corn was sold for 4 baht per kilo.

Kim Ponlork, Sopheak’s counterpart in Kamrieng district, said around 100 villagers protested in his jurisdiction on Friday as well'.

Then the solution. The Cambodia Daily (Jul. 19):

'Following corn farmers’ protests over low prices last week, the Rural Development Bank has proposed using a government rice subsidy to purchase corn and shore up demand.

...

Yesterday, Kao Thach, the RDB’s chairman, said the bank’s board had met earlier in the day to discuss the proposal for corn, and it was now sending it to the Finance Ministry for approval. Last week, about 500 farmers in Battambang province’s Kamrieng district blocked a national road to protest low prices, and authorities met with corn traders hoping to negotiate better deals. The traders refused to budge, however, from the originally agreed price of 3.5 baht per kg, or about $0.10.

...

Many crops in Cambodia are produced for export to only a few markets, mainly Thailand or Vietnam, limiting farmers’ options when buyers’ demand flags, he said.

“They only come to buy from us when they don’t produce enough for their use,” Mr. Ngeth added. The issue was exacerbated by Cambodian farmers overproducing crops that did well the previous year, leading to an oversupply, he said. Un Sreyoun, a 40-year-old corn farmer from Kamrieng district, said she hoped for more local buyers to drive up corn prices.

“If more Cambodian traders came, Thai dealers would not dare to lower the price,” Ms. Sreyoun said.

But Mong Reththy, chairman of agro-industrial conglomerate Mong Reththy Group, said his company had bought 1,000 tons of corn from Battambang almost every day this year for his livestock feed factory, and argued that current prices were fair.

“The price [offered] is already good enough for the farmers. Good deal, indeed,” Mr. Reththy said'.

Spirited
Other non rice news.

The Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 27):

'In an agreement mediated by the International Finance Corporation’s watchdog mechanism, a controversial Vietnamese rubber firm has reached a deal with 11 ethnic minority villages affected by its Ratanakkiri operations to return nearly 20 community “spirit mountains”, restore streams filled or polluted by its activities and repair roads and bridges'.

One needs to note that those companies not with a World Bank interest, can cheat landowners fair and square, no worries.
Rubber is actually on the up. The Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 20):

'Cambodian rubber exports surged 37 percent during the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, as the Kingdom’s rising harvest capacity coincided with firmer global demand for rubber products.

Local producers exported 70,000 tonnes of rubber during the first six months of 2017, compared to 51,000 tonnes during the same period a year earlier, an agriculture official said yesterday.

Pol Sopha, general director of the Rubber Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, said prices also improved during the first six months of the year, with the median export price on natural rubber rising 76 percent year-on-year to $1,771 per tonne. He said the improved prices should help plantation owners and farmers offset some of their losses from recent years, when prices nosedived on slower demand and a glut in world supply'.

An interesting article from the Phnom Penh Post (Jul. 6) on the pepper business:

'Cambodia rice mogul Song Saran, the CEO of one of the Kingdom’s top rice exporters, will diversify his agricultural business interests with the construction of a factory to clean and process locally grown pepper, he said yesterday.

The new factory is being built on 3,000 square metres of land in Memot district of Tbong Khmum province, which accounts for over 70 percent of Cambodia’s pepper harvest.

Its pepper cleaning and processing line is scheduled to open next month and reach its full capacity of 15 tonnes per day by January.

Saran, CEO of Amru Rice and three other sister companies engaged in rice production and export, said the new $400,000 factory is an investment by Amret Rungroeung Group Ltd, a trading firm he established in 2009.

...

He said the company would initially focus on processing black pepper, but it could eventually add separate production lines for other spices, such as ginger and turmeric.

“We’ll focus on black pepper first as we’ve seen the pepper industry grow very rapidly and we cannot depend only on Thailand and Vietnam as buyers,” he said. “We need to build up our own market and connect to the world.”

According to Saran, this will be only the second processing factory to set up in the pepper-growing region. Buyers in the EU and Dubai have already agreed to purchase shipments of 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes per year, he added'.

It's questionable whether or not Cambodia needs to scale up it's pepper business. But it seems inevitable.

Payback
Other crops, other problems. 
The Bangkok Post (Jul. 25) reports on the continuing saga of sugar:

'Sugar prices will be closely monitored despite the government's commitment to the World Trade Organization to free up the production and trading system of the commodity by December, says the Ministry of Commerce. 

Permanent secretary Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa said sugar is on the ministry's control list -- goods whose retail prices are not allowed to be increased -- and is expected to remain so after Dec 1 when the government is due to liberalise the sugar system'.

Bangkok Post (Jul. 10) is less enthusiastic on rubber:

'Discontent among southern rubber farmers against the government has grown even as the government explained it has done its best to ease their woes stemming from plummeting rubber prices.

Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Monday it was imperative that farmers understand world rubber prices were dictated by economic factors such as interest rates and oil prices. In the first five months of this year, exports of natural rubber jumped 63.6% to $2.8 billion. Rubber product exports such as tyres and gloves also surged 59% to $4 billion and the momentum continues, he said.

But southern farmers are taking issue with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who said last week 3 million rai of forests had been encroached to grow rubber trees, resulting in a glut'.

Vientiane Times (Jun. 27) has an insight on how coffee trade is undertaken:

'Dao-Heuang Group will seek to repay the money it owes the country’s coffee farmers as soon as possible after the company fell several months behind in payments for the raw beans. 

The company now owes farmers a total of 27 billion kip after it paid off significant debts according to the Champassak provincial Industry and Commerce Department.

...

The remaining 27 billion kip is owed to almost 2,000 farming families, he said.

Dao-Heuang Group is the largest coffee buyer in Laos, leaving many coffee growers with few alternatives to sell their product as demand from other companies remains limited. The company has confirmed that it will pay all money to farmers but not the timescale.

Coffee remains a key commercial export crop in Laos, and the nation’s product continues to be popular among people from home and abroad while increasingly well-accepted in the international market. The challenges for the industry carry on as the world price for coffee has dropped significantly over the past few months.

According to the Lao Coffee Association, robusta beans are down from US$2,100 in March to US$2,014 this month. 

Falls have been even more spectacular for the higher grade Arabica, which was selling at US$ 3,100 in March before falling to US$2,500 a tonne this month.

The value of coffee exports through the Lao Coffee Association has reached 21,000 tonnes worth more than US$50 million.

This figure is expected to increase in terms of volume and value for the current year'.

Models

The Phnom Penh Post on August 15 reports:

'Smallholder farmers have a crucial role to play in tempering the growing pains of Cambodia’s transition to an industrialised economy, but unless something is done, they will face a land shortage in the coming years, according to the authors of a new report.
They will need land!, a report commissioned by the NGO Mekong Region Land Governance, predicts that by 2030, the amount of land required to sustain Cambodia’s smallholder farmer population will have increased by anywhere from 10 to 64 per cent of 2015 levels, or 320,600 to 1,962,400 hectares. The lead author of the report, Jean-Christophe Diepart, yesterday stressed smallholders’ importance in Cambodia'.

Now there's no doubt that the need to support smallholders is required. However, how to scientifically prove this? By thorough research.

The research cited above, surely does go out of it's way to predict land hunger needs for small holders. Besides demographic models there are also economic growth models which suggest that urbanisation will temper demographic growth in rural areas.

However one is limited in the fact that prior research references are patchy and not relevant as any research pre-2007-2008 has more to do with previous situation of conflict.

What I did miss is the possible assumption that much of the urbanisation is due to the influx of exactly those that are the focus of this report, the smallholders. 

On the other hand f.i. the opportunity cost of growing rice is neglected. While exactly the availablity of rice land is the overall factor in having sufficient / insufficient land.

It's exactly this kind of modelling that limits the findings and conclusions. 

There is another recent example on which the Phnom Penh Post (Sep. 2) reports:

Climate change is threatening the Cambodian rice industry, and it is marginalised communities that will be worst affected unless the government takes action, according to a new study.
The study’s authors, Sokuntheavy Hong and Jun Furuya, took historical climatic, socioeconomic and rice-yield data as their benchmark, and used economic and climate forecasts to estimate future rice crops and prices through 2030.
Looking at both moderate and extreme economic and climate change scenarios, they found that it is not a matter of whether rice prices will go up in coming years, but by how much. In the worst-case scenario, the authors predict that by 2030, rice prices will have increased by as much as 1.52 million riel ($370) per tonne – or 88 per cent above the price of $420 a tonne, reported in December.

It seems that pure economics contradict this. If prices will go up, more land will be brought under rice, if not in Cambodia but certainly worldwide, easing prices. 

Somehow the model created fails to take future development into consideration, seeing Cambodia as a separate entity with no means to exchange with the wider world.

Cambodia

Continuing on the climate change subject, there's this snippet from the Phnom Penh Post (Aug. 26):

'About 40,000 Battambang rice-farming families already suffering steep losses from a severe drought are at risk of seeing their crops wiped out entirely by devastating floods as late seasonal rains start to kick in'.

It illustrates how Cambodia's future will be determined by climate changes: there will be winners and losers, with hopefully more winners than losers.

 

More marginal news. The Khmer Times (Aug. 22):

'Rice millers and exporters were strongly urged by the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF) on Friday to adhere to a code of ethics, to ensure that consumers of the Kingdom’s staple grain sold in domestic and overseas markets were not cheated by unscrupulous traders mixing supplies with lower quality rice to maximize profits.
...
Cambodia’s rice exports fell by 6.9 percent from the 283,825 tons in the first six months of last year to about 268,190 tons in same period this year, according to a report released by the General Department of Agriculture last fortnight.
Hean Vanhan, the deputy director of the General Department of Agriculture, told Khmer Times the drop in the volume of rice exports was partly due to millers and exporters not having enough capital to buy rice in the harvest season to store in warehouses for processing and export, as well as the flow of rice imported from Vietnam, while Thailand was releasing its rice to the market at a lower price'.

While the CRF also points to the Ministry of Commerce. The Phnom Penh Post (Aug. 15):

'The Ministry of Commerce set up a new taskforce on Friday to address challenges faced by the Kingdom’s struggling rice industry and assess demands made by members of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), who have decried the ineffectiveness of an earlier taskforce set up by the ministry.

...

Tang Chhong Ngy, marketing manager of rice miller LBN Angkor (Kampuchea), said the first taskforce had been highly ineffective and the second working group was created after the same issues were raised again by the CRF.

“We saw many procedures at the national level but none that actually went into operation,” he said'.

Clouds ahead

News from Vietnam which as of yet fails to register outside of Vietnam. Ongoing trade negotiations with the EU will ease access for rice imports and there's a hunch who might be on the losing hand. The news as reported by vnexpress.net (Aug. 25):

'Vietnam's rice exports will enjoy a zero percent tariff to the European Union from 2018. 

The free trade agreement between Vietnam and the E.U. (EVFTA), which comes into effect in 2018, will allow the country to export 100,000 tons of rice each year to the E.U., quadruple the current figure.

...

In 2013, Vietnam accounted for 3 percent of the E.U. rice market, while Thailand made up about 18 percent, Cambodia 22 percent and India 24 percent'.

Vietnam.news (Aug. 31) adds:

'Professor Võ Tòng Xuân, a leading rice expert, said it was hard for Việt Nam to share the same rank as Thailand, but the country could learn from the experience of Cambodia, which has been emerging thanks to its rice winning the world’s ‘best rice’ title for three consecutive years'.

Bangkok Post (Aug. 4) predicts rice pricing for the immediate future:

'Thailand's rice market is expected to face a price war next year as a result of oversupply that will lower prices in both domestic and export markets, while the stronger baht could hurt the competitiveness of rice shipments, exporters warn'.

Crop output would be 10-20% up as more farmers expand rain-fed rice fields. Which in a way addresses some issues raised by the second model presented above: higher rainfall creates floods for some, but more irrigation possibilities for others.

Meanwhile the Thai junta hopes to encourage farmers to choose other crops. The Bangkok Post (Aug. 20):

'About 110,000 rice-growing families whose land is not well-suited for the grain have signed up to a programme to help them switch to other crops or raising animals, Agriculture Department director-general Olarn Pithak said'.

The incentives were cash hand-outs and soft loans ...
 
A video on farmers rice seed research in north Thailand (Bangkok Post, Aug. 14):

Of elephants

Away from rice there's not much to mention. The Phnom Penh Post (Aug. 8) exemplifies just how difficult developing the farming sector may well be:

'Just three months since starting production, Cambodia’s largest sugar mill is sitting idle due to a shortage of its primary input sugarcane, a provincial Agriculture Ministry official said yesterday.
...
Rui Feng claims its mammoth factory, which opened in April, is capable of processing 20,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day, turning it into 2,000 tonnes of refined sugar for buyers in the EU, China and India.
However, Trida said the mill had not operated at capacity and estimated that it processed just 10,000 tonnes of sugarcane before shutting down its production line in June'.

Still, thinking big is the way forward. It seems. The Vientiane Times (Aug. 23):

'Champassak province farmers will be supported in planting thousands of hectares of cashew nut trees after the provincial Administration Office gave the go ahead for a US$9 million Korean project.

D eputy Director of the pro vincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, MrViengsaySipraphone, told Vientiane Times on Monday afternoon that G Farm Company from the Republic of Korea will spend US$6m to construct a cashew nut processing plant and other infrastructure on an area of 150 ha with an adjacent 47 ha plot for seedlings'.