Cambodia hopes to bolster food security by boosting crop yields

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will spend 21 million U.S. dollars this year to boost rice crop yields in a move aimed at bolstering food security in the Kingdom, local media reported on Wednesday.

The funds from the Ministry of Agriculture will go towards irrigation systems and developing drought- and flood-resistant hybrid rice seeds in an effort to boost production, the Phnom PenhPost quoted Chan Sarun, agricultural minister, as saying.

"We have prepared more than 21 million U.S. dollars for new hybrid rice seeds that can endure drought and flood," Chan Sarun said.

Officials are also aiming to expand cultivated land by five percent.

Cambodia's rice production suffers from one of the lowest yields in the region, according to statistics compiled by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Ouk Saren, director of the Khmer Community for Agriculture Development, said farmers in lowland and coastal areas worry about unpredictable floods, while farmers in highland areas are more concerned with droughts.

"We need more modern techniques to help us resolve this problem," he said.

Cambodia expected to produce an estimated 7.286 million tonnes of rice for 2009/2010 of which the country expects to have about 3.3 million tonnes surplus for export, according to the agricultural report on Tuesday.

S.E. Asian nations adopt 10-year Rice Action Plan

10/25/2008
Neil Jerome C. Morales
BusinessWorld

MANILA, Philippines - Southeast Asian nations on Friday endorsed a 10-year Rice Action Plan drafted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) involving increasing yields, research dissemination, and rice policy support, to make sure rice crises like the one that hit in the first half of this year will no longer recur, a press release by the IRRI read.

Agriculture ministers of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) approved the seven-point action plan during the 30th annual meeting of the Asean Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry in Hanoi, Vietnam this week.

Asean includes the world’s two largest rice exporters, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the biggest importer, the Philippines. Other members of Asean are Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei.

"We have the scientific expertise, knowledge, and partnerships to grow the rice Asia needs and now...we have strong political support," the statement quoted IRRI Director General Robert S. Zeigler as saying.

"The only thing missing are the financial resources needed to implement this," Mr. Zeigler said, telling the ministers that IRRI needs an additional $15 million a year for the next 10 years to support the Asean Rice Action Plan.

"At a time of trillion-dollar bailouts for the global financial sector, $15 million a year is barely the annual bonus of a former Wall Street executive," Mr. Zeigler said.

In a phone interview, IRRI spokesman Adam Barclay said "even as countries are worried about the financial crisis, we hope that support for agriculture would not be lost."

The Rice Action Plan was drafted by IRRI amid the rice price crisis in the first half, in consultation with its partners around the region.

At the height of the rice crisis in the first half, the United Nations World Food Programme observed that global rice stocks hit at a 20-year low while rice prices surged to a 20-year high. Consequently, the first half saw Philippine rice prices rising 40%-50% to P35-P45 per kilogram from P25/kg-P30/kg.

The seven-point plan includes "reducing the gap of 1-2 tons per hectare between actual and potential yield in most ricefields; accelerating the delivery of new postharvest technologies to reduce losses; accelerating the adoption of higher-yielding varieties; upgrading breeding of hybrid seeds; accelerating research on rice varieties; developing a new generation og rice scientists and researchers; and providing a conducive policy environment for rice production."

"[Delivery of post-harvest services] often gets neglected and it results in a lot of losses every year," Mr. Barclay said, noting that as much as 15% of yields are lost.