Property rights threatened, NGOs claim [-FAO's shenanigans in Cambodia in collusion with Hun Xen's regime?]

Tuesday, 24 July 2012
David Boyle and May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

A draft agricultural land law threatens to eliminate property rights and effectively remove all limitations on the size of economic land concessions, a coalition of civil society groups said in a statement released.

The draft of The Law on the Management and Use of Agricultural Land, which was formulated with the help of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, also contains criminal sanctions that impose jail terms of up to one year.

The FAO has said that controversial agricultural land leases that had no apparent limitations in size had been removed from a new draft formulated in April, but yesterday declined to provide an updated copy of the law, which the government has also so far declined to circulate.

But the continued existence of Agricultural Development Areas in the draft law would allow the government to force farmers to switch the crops they are growing if an undefined majority of landholders in the area agree to the plan, said Licahdo director Naly Pilorge.

“This is another law that could potentially allow the government to arbitrarily award land without consulting the affected people,” she said, adding that the ADAs were effectively a form of forced collectivisation.

Cambodia’s Most Dangerous Job?

May 30, 2012
By Gemima Harvey
The Diplomat

Working in the fields isn’t typically considered a dangerous job. But with plantations still littered with unexploded ordnance, some Cambodians are looking for companies to step up.

Frustration grips Von Tha’s face as she fumbles with a hand that no longer works. Ron Run says that seeing his wife’s physical and mental struggle has, for him, been one of the hardest parts of the family’s ordeal. Two months since the explosion at a cassava plantation in Kratie, and the group of five are still feeling its effects. It’s a case that underscores the danger for workers at contaminated sites.

In Cambodia, companies and landowners can choose whether or not to clear areas used for commercial purposes such as agriculture, mining or ecotourism. With improved access to previously difficult to reach areas comes increased economic interest in utilising the land. Accidents on land used for enterprise illustrate the importance of ensuring known-risk areas are cleared of explosive remnants of war (ERW) before workers can enter the site and start tilling the soil.

Run explains that he, his wife Von Tha, brother-in-law Kith Ol and two nephews Ann Yong and Et En, arrived to work at the farm in Kratie’s Snoul District a few days before the March 17 accident. The family stood around a fire, cooking dinner after a long day in the fields, when flames suddenly engulfed the group. The explosion was caused when the heat detonated an explosive remnant. All five people needed medical treatment. Tha and her brother Ol were standing the closest and were critically injured. Run and his two nephews, Yong and En, were standing further back, but were still badly burnt and their skin was shredded by shrapnel.

3 policies led by the SRP: A speech given by MP Son Chhay at the SRP's 5th Congress

http://www.box.net/shared/lp90na8348hlixg2l0s1

Cambodia Attracts US$116.5 Million In FDI In Two Months [-More upcoming land-grabbing from Cambodian farmers?]

PHNOM PENH, March 16 (Bernama) -- Cambodia attracted US$116.5 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of this year, showing a recovery in FDI attraction from a decrease of 46 percent to US$5.9 billion USD last year.

The Cambodian Development Council (CDC) granted licences to nine projects worth US$75 million in January and to six others worth 41.5 million USD in February, reports Vietnam news agency on Tuesday.

The projects mainly involve in agriculture and apparel, including two garment and textile plants invested by China and Singapore, a Vietnamese-invested rice processing mill and several farm produce processing plants, according to the CDC.

The agriculture sector is becoming the most attractive area for foreign investors in the Kingdom and it has potential in the world market, especially in the European Union.

The Cambodian government has offered various incentives for investments in the sector, including tax incentives, in order to turn agriculture into the country's sustainable economic spearhead.

Cambodia has more than 6 million hectares under agricultural and industrial crops. However, only two-thirds of the acreage are under cultivated as the country lacks irrigation systems, advanced farming methods and high-yield strains.

With an output of about 7 million tonnes of rice in 2009, the government targets to produce about 8 to 9 million tonnes of rice by 2015, aiming to make rice a hard currency earner for the country.

Proposed Agricultural Deal Carries Risk for Cambodia's Rural Poor

Cambodian farmers prepare seedlings for their rice plantation at the paddy rice farm in Kandol village, Kampong Cham province, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Phnom Penh (Photo: AP/file photo)

Phnom Penh 18 February 2010
Robert Carmichael, VOA

An investment group out of Australia has unveiled a $600 million plan to create a massive farm project in Cambodia. However, human rights workers are concerned that this deal, and others like it, will do little to help Cambodia's rural poor. Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh has more.

BKK Partners, an Australian financial advisory firm, has a client that wants to buy 100,000 hectares of Cambodian land on which to grow crops such as rice, bananas, sugar cane, palm oil and teak.

BKK managing director Peter Costello was in Cambodia recently to discuss the idea. The client for the deal is a company called Indochina Gateway Capital Limited, which has ties to BKK.

The Phnom Penh Post newspaper recorded an interview with Costello, a former Australian finance minister, in which he explained why investing in food is so tempting. "I think agriculture is going to come back into its own as an investment in the decades that lie ahead and of course that's a great opportunity for Cambodia," he said.

The investors say the project will create jobs in an impoverished country, and help improve farming methods for the undeveloped - yet vital - agriculture sector.

But human rights workers say previous farm-industry deals have worked against ordinary Cambodians because of corruption, poor governance and often-violent land evictions.

Poor farmers often are kicked off the land and because of Cambodia's inadequate land-ownership records, often receive no compensation. So they wind up with no farm, no home and no way to start over.

Three years ago the United Nations human rights office in Phnom Penh said at least 59 land concessions totaling almost 1 million hectares had been granted to private companies for agriculture projects. It said that impoverished rural residents generally have lost out in such deals.

Government figures show it has approved 33 more projects since the U.N. report was released.

That does not include land concession granted to other countries. Qatar, Kuwait and South Korea have been pursuing concession deals here.

Matthieu Pellerin works on land rights for Cambodia human rights organization Licadho. He says corruption means that not only are the poor unprotected, the investors themselves may be at risk.

"Well-established system of corruption; a lack of checks and balances to ensure that poor communities, indigenous communities are not victimized by any kind of major agro-industry deals where sizable pieces of land are sold to private companies; the collusion of all state actors from the village up to the national level. All of these factors just make it very, very, very difficult if not impossible to abide by the book. I think that if one wants to really abide by the book, Cambodia in 2010 is not the place to come," he said.

BKK Partners' Costello says the investors plan to give five percent of the cash generated by the land deal to social projects in Cambodia.

But Pellerin says that may not benefit the poor, unless there is adequate oversight to make sure the money goes to community needs and not politician's pockets.

Opposition politician Son Chhay says if the BKK deal is done properly, it could mark a welcome change from past agreements with Chinese and Vietnamese agriculture companies. He says they do not invest in the country's people.

However, Son Chhay says it can be difficult to get information about land agreements. Until 2008 he headed parliament's foreign affairs committee, and he says members of parliament are blocked from examining contracts on such deals. "It's still the case that we are not able to get our hands on investment documents, and that's a cause for great concern," he said.

He says BKK must make the details of the deal public to ensure that rural poor do not lose out.

The issue of land seizures in Cambodia has drawn the attention of the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights. Surya Subedi on a recent visit asked the government to suspend land evictions until it put in place proper legal safeguards. But the government refused, saying to do so would hold up development.

Subedi says a new law on government land seizures is too vague. "For example, what do we mean by public interest? If land can be acquired in the public interest, how do you define it? Who defines it?," said Subedi.

Opposition politicians and activists for the poor say the risk is that the government will simply seize any land it wants, and those farming the land will have no legal protection.

Agriculture Key to Overcoming Crisis: Expert

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
06 October 2009

Of Cambodia’s main economic earners, it is not tourism or garments that will help it through the economic crisis, but rather agriculture, a leading Cambodian economist said Monday.

“What we have seen and learned from the world crisis is that the agricultural sector should be focused on as an economic target,” said Kang Chandararoth, head of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

A policy to set up a reserve fund for agriculture is the “pressing issue,” he said. Agriculture was Cambodia’s “gateway to growth.”

Tourism, garment export and construction have all been hard hit by the global economic downturn, with orders for clothing down, number of visitors diminishing and a depressed real estate market.

Kang Chandararoth said that if China’s growth was forecast at 8 percent next year, Cambodia could follow.

“If China can compete with the world and continue with industrialization, then China will bring us more garment work, and we will have benefits from China too, as a subcontractor,” he said.

Cambodia remained behind Vietnam, which “has a real plan and multiple goods to export,” he said. “Not like Cambodia, which does not have so many goods it can export.”

Vietnam’s growth was 4 percent, though Cambodia’s economy could decline 3 percent, he said.

Negative Growth to ‘Challenge’ Cambodia: World Bank

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 May 2009

[Editor’s note: Cambodia was at first insulated from the financial crisis thanks to its lack of ties to the global finance system. However, as the crisis spread, and US and European consumers slowed their spending, Cambodia’s factories began to feel the pinch, along with agriculture and construction. International finance experts now project Cambodia’s economy will shrink in 2009, a major shift from the galloping growth the country had enjoyed in recent years. Cambodia’s World Bank country director, Qimiao Fan, sat in a recent interview with VOA Khmer in Phnom Penh.]

Q. How has Cambodia’s general economy performed since the economic crisis hit the country?

A. As you know, Cambodia’ economy has been growing very rapidly in the last decade. It had experienced double-digit growth before the economic crisis. However, the global economic crisis has impacted Cambodia very significantly, because Cambodia’s economy depends very much on external demand and on the inflow of foreign direct investment. So the global economic crisis is likely to impact Cambodia’s economy growth in 2009. We are now forecasting about minus 1 percent growth in 2009 for Cambodia.

Q. How will a contraction impact Cambodia as a whole?

A. The negative growth in 2009 is going to impact first and foremost on the poor people. Clearly with the slowdown in the economy and with negative growth in a sector like garments, there are going to be significant lay-offs of existing workers from the garment sector, perhaps also from tourism and construction. So those people who used to be earning an income, sending their salary back to rural areas, will no longer have that income. Secondly, as the economy decelerates, there will be few opportunities for new entrance into the labor market. Therefore, these people will find it very difficult to find a job that can earn them a living. They are likely to find less paying jobs in the informal sector.

Q. Do you think the economic crisis will become a challenge for Cambodia to implement its poverty reduction policy?

A. I think the economy has hit small, open economies, like Cambodia, and now the country has to deal with perhaps a negative growth rate in 2009. Clearly this is going to be a challenge, because the economy needs to grow to create employment for the 250,000 or so new entrants into the market. The economy needs to grow in order for the country to achieve its poverty rate further. So it is going to be a challenge for Cambodia, as it is for other countries around the world.

Q. Under the circumstances, with the economic hit hard by the crisis, what should the Cambodian government do to cope?

A. What I think it would be important for the government to do is to be able to continue to maintain the kind of public expenditure, such as in agriculture, infrastructure and a social safety net. Secondly, I think the crisis is also an opportunity. The country should take this opportunity to further improve its investment climate, so that when the global economy rebounds, Cambodia will be in a better position for that rebound and can become a favorable destination for foreign direct investment.

Q. Do you think it is necessary now for the Cambodian government to plan any stimulus package?

A. Like many other poor developing countries, the country doesn’t…have a lot of money to stimulate the economy. The government needs to make sure whatever expenditure it has goes to priority sectors like agriculture, infrastructure and training workers who have been laid off from the garment sector.

Q. What is the role of the World Bank in helping Cambodia fight the crisis?

A. The World Bank is helping Cambodia in three ways. First, we are working with the government and other development partners to try to have a better understanding of the impact of the crisis, particularly on poverty, on employment and on growth.

Second, at the request of prime minister, the World Bank, together with other development partners, are examining our existing support programs to Cambodia to see if we can accelerate the implementation of existing programs, because we believe it is the best way to help a response to the economic crisis. At the same time, we are currently working with the government, and we will soon be negotiating a $13 million budget support program to Cambodia to help small-holder agriculture and social protection.

Third, we are also working to provide timely advice and analysis to the government to deal with the short-term impact of the crisis, to see how we can help to position Cambodia better when the economy rebounds.

As Losses Mount, Plans To Help Economy Emerge [-Where's that loud mouth PM who said that Cambodia will not be affected by the economic crisis?]

Kong Chandararoth, president of the Cambodian Institute of Economic Study and Development.

By VOA Khmer, Reporters
Reports from Phnom Penh & Washington
28 April 2009

Cambodia’s four main economic drivers have sustained multi-million dollar losses so far this year, despite insulation from the financial markets, a leading economist said Monday.

A report released by the International Labor Organization released Monday shows losses of $280 million in garments, $260 million in tourism, $180 million in agriculture and $45 million in construction.

Despite those losses, Cambodia remains somewhat insulated from the global financial crisis, said Kong Chandararoth, president of the Cambodian Institute of Economic Study and Development.

“Our country is not close to the financial market, so that does not have an impact as serious as other countries,” he said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Cambodia’s agriculture has also made the global financial downturn easier that industrialized countries, he said.

Organizations like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank have warned that Cambodia’s economy will shrink this year, thanks to the financial crisis.

However, Kong Chandararoth said such predictions were “too dark about Cambodia,” and he predicted economic growth around 5 percent for 2009.

Cambodia’s situation is further different from other countries, he said, because it does not have a stock exchange or other financial markets, which have been hard-hit by the collapse of the US financial market.

Meanwhile, the government has prepared a package to restore the economy, including tax exemptions, tourism promotion, and help for construction, agriculture, garment factories and other investments.

The government announced Tuesday it will release $25 million to the agriculture and garment sectors, in an effort to mitigate the effects of the global downturn.

The money—$18 million to agriculture and $7 million to garments—will be used to increase farm production and help train people who have lost their jobs thanks to the slowdown.

Government officials made the announcement during the semi-annual donors meeting on Tuesday.

Israeli investors are eyeing Cambodia

16 Jan 2009
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

Tzahi Selzer, first secretary and economic attaché of Israel embassy in Cambodia (residing in Bangkok, Thailand), paid an official visit to Cambodia on 15 January. His undertaking coincides with Israel’s wish to invest in Cambodia.

The Israeli representative gave an interview to the Deum Ampil (Tamarind tree) newspaper in which he indicated that his country is interested to invest in Cambodia in the agricultural sector and in communication.

“In May, we will organize an international exposition on agriculture in Tel Aviv. We invited the Cambodian minister of Agriculture to participate in it, as well as all his counterparts from all over the world,” Tzahi Selzer indicated. He also added that between 15 and 16 March, a meeting between Israeli and Cambodian businessmen and technicians would be organized in Phnom Penh. In fact, he indicated that Israel wishes to establish a commercial cooperation between the two countries.

“Some Israel investors are already in Cambodia. Most of them are in Sihanoukville. They work on bio-diesel and in the real estate sector. Other investors from Israel who have established in neighboring countries, would like to establish themselves here,” he said while recalling that the amount of Israeli investments in Cambodia is still very low.

Kuwait signed $27 bln of deals in Asian tour-paper

KUWAIT, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Kuwait signed more than $27 billion of investment agreements with nine Asian countries, including Brunei and the Philippines, during an Asian tour this month, its finance minister said in remarks published on Sunday.

The agreements were in the economic, oil, health and foreign affairs sectors, daily Awan cited Mustapha al-Shamali as saying.

"The value of the accords and economic and commercial protocols are more than $27 billion, with $3 billion to $4 billion of investments and possible commercial partnerships with each country," Shamali said.

Shamali and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah went on a tour of eight Asian countries this month to boost trade ties.

Kuwait would also "cooperate with South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, in the health sector", Shamali said, without giving details.

Kuwait is talking with Asian countries, including Cambodia, about securing food supplies and investing in agriculture as the Gulf state looks to diversify its sources of food, the state news agency KUNA reported on Saturday.

A delegation including the Kuwait Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, will visit Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar this month to look at investments in agriculture and industry, KUNA cited Shamali as saying on Saturday.

Kuwait wants to boost investments across asset classes in Asia with a focus on Japan, China and India, Shamali said last month.

Cambodian gov't appeals for loans to farmers

PHNOM PENH, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's agricultural sector has the potential to compete regionally if commercial banks loan the money needed to modernize, local media reported Monday, citing senior government figures.

Commercial banks are being encouraged to assist farmers through loans, Sun Kunthor, a government advisor and general director of the Rural Development Bank of Cambodia (RDBC), was quoted as saying in the Mekong Times newspaper.

"We needed commercial banks' participation in providing loans to the sector and we are urging them to cooperate," he said.

Nearly all of the RDBC's loans last year went to the agricultural sector, Sun Kunthor said, but even the bank's 20 million U.S. dollars of working capital would bring little improvement alone.

Bu Ros, chief of Canadia Bank's loan department, said his bank also strongly supports loans to the agricultural sector and will provide as many as possible.

"We were advised by the president of the bank to focus mainly on offering loans to the agricultural sector and we are prepared to give 10 percent of the total loan which is 430 million U.S. dollars for the year 2008," he said, adding that around 6 percent of Canadia's loans were to farmers last year.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has recently urged the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia to consult with commercial banks to provide the credit needed to modernize Cambodian agriculture.

Qatar to invest US$200 million in agriculture

Thursday, 08 May 2008
By Soun Sophalmony
The Mekong Times

The State of Qatar has officially declared its intention to invest in Cambodia’s agricultural sector, including US$200 million in rice farmland in Svay Rieng province and a loan for an irrigation system using the Vaiko River.

“Cambodia and Qatar are strengthening their cooperation over agricultural investment in Cambodia,” said Hor Namhong, minister of foreign affairs, at yesterday’s press conference at the ministry. The Qatari government has submitted six agriculture-related documents for signature and a Qatari delegation plans to visit Cambodia Jun 9-12 to discuss technical and commercial collaboration with Cambodia and to conduct further feasibility studies, said the minister.

“Cambodia plans to borrow money from Qatar to construct a canal from Vaiko River, which will link up the three provinces of Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Kompong Cham,” said Hor Namhong. “The canal will be able to irrigate over 300,000 hectares of land,” he said, adding that Qatar will initially invest around US$200 million in 10,000 hectares of land in Svay Rieng province.

“Firstly, Cambodia is making a study of the canal [to be] dug from Vaiko River – an important water source for rice irrigation,” said Chan Sarun, minister of agriculture, adding that the canal will provide water for the Svay Rieng land which Qatar will invest in. “We will encourage people to start planting rice early, after the study, and they will be able to plant two to three crops a year.”

Cheang Orm, Svay Rieng provincial governor, although as yet unaware of the Qatari investment project, welcomed the project, which he said would help improve living standards in his province.

“This investment could help poor people to increase their rice output,” he said. “Our province already has the [necessary] infrastructure. We have provincial and district agricultural departments, commune and village trainer officers, agricultural information networks and agronomists.”

Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), said, if the investment focuses on upgrading farmers’ capacity in rice production, increasing their incomes, supplying markets and improving agricultural efficiency, then it would be “a good thing.”

Apart from the investment project, the Cambodian and Qatari governments also reached agreements on direct flights from Qatar to Cambodia and also agreed to cooperate on oil and gas exploration. The two governments also announced the beginning of diplomatic relations from Apr 1 this year.

Doha plans to invest $200mn in Cambodia [-Hopefully it won't translate into further land-grabbing]

Thursday, 8 May, 2008
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH: Qatar plans to invest around $200mn in the agricultural sector of Cambodia, a senior official said yesterday.

An investment agreement will be signed soon, said Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international co-operation.

Qatar’s co-operation with Cambodia was highlighted after Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani paid his first official visit to Cambodia last month, he said.

“We welcome their investment,” said Hor, adding that Cambodia also plans to borrow loan from Qatar to restore its irrigation system for over 300,000 hectares of rice planting land in Savy Rieng, Prey Veng and Kampong Cham provinces.

Part of the paddy rice there will be sold to Qatar, he added.

Cambodia PM urges wider based economy [-Hun Sen just wake up?]

20/12/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen says the country must diversify its economy by boosting energy exploration and growth in the agricultural sector.

The economy is currently dominated by the garment industry and tourism.

Hun Sen warns that an economic slowdown in the West could severely damage the country's garment industry and says Cambodia should put more effort into diversifying the economy.

The country's garment sector alone accounts for 80 percent of total export earnings, employing some 330,000 people in more than 200 factories.