Cambodian farmers complaint about lack of market for cassava

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2_HsIsoMMM

NGOs demand help for farmers

THURSDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2011 12:01
RANN REUY AND VINCENT MACISAAC
The Phnom Penh Post

Microfinance institutions are being asked to provide emergency loans with lower interest rates to farmers who lost crops in the worst floods to hit Cambodia in more than a decade.

However, the deputy chairman of the Cambodia Microfinance Association said that lowering interest rates could drive its members out of business.

Hout Ieng Tong, who is also the general manager of microfinance lender Hattha Kaksekar Ltd, told the Post yesterday that it was next to impossible for MFIs to lower monthly interest rates because it would cause them to lose money in addition to the licences required to operate.

“We borrow at slightly over 1 per cent a month, and with tax and operating costs we cannot provide [loans] under 1.5 per cent [per month],” he said.

Press Release: Cambodian farmers meet to discuss the National Developmen​t Policy for Agricultur​al Cooperativ​es

Dear All,

From February 15 to February 17, 2011, 70 farmer representatives from eight Cambodian provinces are meeting at Pic Nic Resort in Sihanoukville province to discuss the National Development Policy for Agricultural Cooperatives and to strategize their participation in achieving the Royal Government of Cambodia’s ambitious goal to export 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015.

For more details, please refer to attached file.

Thanks and kind regards,

Him Khortieth

.............................................................

Communication Officer

Centre d' Etude et de Développement 

Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC)

No. 119, Street 257, Sangkat Toek Laak 1, 

Khan Toul Kork

B.P. 1118 Phnom Penh

H/P: 855-16-57-57-13

Tel  : 855- 23-880-916

Fax : 855-23-885-146

E-mail: himkhortieth@cedac.org.kh

www.cedac.org.kh

Farm contracts or potential for more land-grabbings and evictions?

Ministry Looks to Have More Hand in Farm Contracts

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 12 January 2011

“This draft will eliminate the middlemen and bring investors directly to meet farmers or farmer associations.”

The Ministry of Agriculture is finalizing a new subdecree that would put it in a major role for contract farmers.

The subdecree lets the ministry help farmers find investment partners and markets for their goods, said Mao Sopheareth, director of the ministry's agro-industrial development department.

“After approving this draft, we'll have a direct relationship between sellers and farmers in signing their contracts,” he said. “This draft will eliminate the middlemen and bring investors directly to meet farmers or farmer associations.”

Farmers have complained in the past of receiving low value for their raw goods, while middlemen reap the value added of better markets. But without a mechanism to help them, it can be difficult for farmers to find a lucrative market for their products.

Farmers Needs to Watch Market: Economist

Cambodian farmers prepare seedlings for their rice plantation at the paddy rice farm in Kandol village, Kampong Cham province. (Photo: AP)

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Friday, 07 May 2010

“Some companies will lose in a price war, and they will quit. The companies that are sill in operation will raise their prices. This is like a monopoly, and it can be catastrophic for the economy.”

Cambodian farmers need to learn to focus on the requirements of the market if they are to benefit in agriculture, a leading economist said Monday.

Farmers are used to planting crops for each other, then selling the surplus, but that culture must change, Din Virak, an economist and lecturer at several Phnom Penh universities, told “Hello VOA.”

Farmers are selling their produce at prices cheaper than market prices, he said.

Cambodia’s economy was hit hard by the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, but the government and other international agencies are predicting a rebound in 2010, with an estimated growth of 5 percent.

Much of that will come from garments and tourism, the country’s main earners, but Cambodian officials have said they want agriculture to play a larger role in the economy.

Cambodia is working to sell its good on international markets and within Asean, and there are plans to redistribute some wealth through irrigation projects and other boosts to agriculture, Din Virak said.

Cambodia is mainly a free market, with little government interference in pricing, he said, except for a recent edict by government ministries to set a price floor on mobile phone rates, after a price war threatened to reduce prices too low.

“In principle, the government can only fix maximum and minimum prices in necessary cases,” he said.

“Some companies will lose in a price war, and they will quit,” he said. “The companies that are sill in operation will raise their prices. This is like a monopoly, and it can be catastrophic for the economy.”

Life scenes from Cambodia

Farmers work at a rice field in Takeo province 60km (37 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh July 5, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Farmers work at a rice field in Takeo province 60km (37 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh July 5, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
A vendor sorts out crickets to sell in Cambodia. The owners of Vij's restaurant knew they were taking a huge gamble when they decided to add bugs to the menu of their upscale, internationally-known Vancouver eaterie. But gram for gram, experts say insects are more nutritious to eat and better for the environment to produce than popular foods such as beef and chicken. (AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)