Cambodia Scores Historical Records of Rice Harvest

2009-04-09
Xinhua

Cambodia achieved historical records of rice harvest in 2008, Chinese-language newspaper the Jian Hua Daily on Thursday quoted Minister of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries Chan Sarun as saying.

Farmers planted 2.25 million hectares of rice during the rainy season in 2008, with an average turnout of 2.54 tons of rice per hectare, Chan Sarun told an annual meeting of his ministry here on Wednesday.

In addition, they planted 350,000 hectares of rice during the dry season in 2008, with an average turnout of 4.04 tons of rice per hectare, said the minister.

"These are our historical records in terms of rice harvest," he added.

In late March, the minister told reporters that the kingdom harvested over 7 million tons of rice in 2008, with at least 2 million tons ready for export.

Cambodia used to be a major exporter of rice within the region of the Mekong River.

However, due to years of war, its rice production was ravaged at the end of last century and currently lags behind its neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam in the field of rice export.

Cambodian rice production increases 12%

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia's production of unmilled rice increased 12 percent this year, which would create a surplus of 2.8 million tons in 2008, up 300,000 tons over last year's figures, national media reported Tuesday.

"This surplus has come from the use of better seeds and improved farming practice," Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

"We hope the quantity of rice production will continue to increase next year," he said.

The Cambodian government expects total production of unmilled rice to hit 6.8 million tons, which would represent a million-ton gain over last year, according to a preliminary evaluation conducted by the agriculture ministry.

Chan Sarun said the government is negotiating with several countries to secure additional markets for Cambodian rice.

"I expect that Cambodia will export at least 2 million tons of rice in 2009 to countries in the region, in the Middle East, the European Union and in Africa," he said.