Ministry Predicts Record Rice Yield This Year
By Lor Chandara
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
With the rice harvest already underway, the Ministry of Agriculture is predicting that this year will produce the highest rice yield on record.
The ministry's chief statistician Kith Seng said Wednesday that rice production was estimated to be up 5 percent from last year's bumper crop of 6 million tons—a potential increase of 300,000 tons.
"We have made an initial estimate that we may get 5 percent more rice than last year because there was good rain and we expanded rice production," he said.
Kith Seng said that the new estimates exceed the ministry's earlier forecasts because farmers ended up cultivating 100,000 hectares more than the 2,160,000 hectares the ministry predicted.
But Nhim Vanda, first deputy president of the National Committee for Disaster Management and a CPP lawmaker, said there will still be food shortages in some areas.
"By the national statistics, we could get more rice than last year," he said. "But in reality villagers in some regions must be short of food because they lack enough water for rice, and in other places, villagers have no land to farm on."
SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said the ministry's statistics should be treated with skepticism as the rainy season came late this year, and in many areas farmers were unable to plant their crops due to land disputes. Come October and November every year "quite a number of people are starving," he added.
Some provinces are finding that they are having a harder time finding cheap labor to harvest this year's crop.
Kompong Thom Provincial Governor Nam Tum said that farmers in his province are facing a shortage of workers because so many people have migrated to other parts of the country in search of better-paying work.
The ministry's chief statistician Kith Seng said Wednesday that rice production was estimated to be up 5 percent from last year's bumper crop of 6 million tons—a potential increase of 300,000 tons.
"We have made an initial estimate that we may get 5 percent more rice than last year because there was good rain and we expanded rice production," he said.
Kith Seng said that the new estimates exceed the ministry's earlier forecasts because farmers ended up cultivating 100,000 hectares more than the 2,160,000 hectares the ministry predicted.
But Nhim Vanda, first deputy president of the National Committee for Disaster Management and a CPP lawmaker, said there will still be food shortages in some areas.
"By the national statistics, we could get more rice than last year," he said. "But in reality villagers in some regions must be short of food because they lack enough water for rice, and in other places, villagers have no land to farm on."
SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said the ministry's statistics should be treated with skepticism as the rainy season came late this year, and in many areas farmers were unable to plant their crops due to land disputes. Come October and November every year "quite a number of people are starving," he added.
Some provinces are finding that they are having a harder time finding cheap labor to harvest this year's crop.
Kompong Thom Provincial Governor Nam Tum said that farmers in his province are facing a shortage of workers because so many people have migrated to other parts of the country in search of better-paying work.
1 comment:
The statements do not contradict. It may be ironic for those farmers who have no land.
SiS
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