Early rains have damaged cashew crops and delayed the durian harvest, farmers say, as unseasonable weather patterns are restoring water reserves after recent years of drought but causing their own havoc.
In the face of worsening climate change, the extent to which Cambodian farmers are supported to adapt will have significant ramifications for livelihoods, communities’ food security, the environment and the economy, writes University of Sydney professor Daniel Tan.
Five Banteay Meanchey farmers appealed their five-year prison sentences over encroachment of nearly 2,000 hectares at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, though major elements of the case remained unclear even during the appeal.
Less than five months to commune elections, the ruling CPP and minor opposition parties are pointing to agriculture as key planks of their agendas, many echoing a desire to increase investment in farms and “find markets” for exports.
In the first eight months of the year, Cambodian rice exports are tracking 23 percent below the same period last year, though non-rice exports have more than doubled in that time.
The Agriculture Ministry has launched a lumpy skin disease vaccination campaign for cattle starting with priority provinces after more than 30,000 animals have contracted the disease, an official said.
A week after Thailand blocked the exports of Cambodian longan in Battambang due to Covid-19 fears, a trader says hundreds of tons of the local fruit are at risk of spoiling.
Hammered by years of debt, drought and desperation, Cambodia’s smallholder farmers have long supported themselves by sending family to work in Phnom Penh factories. But the pandemic has upended the arrangement, forcing unemployed workers back to failing farms.
Farmers in Kandal province say they each have thousands of dollars worth of vegetables spoiling in their fields because they can’t find buyers.
While recent floodwaters are receding, farmers who spoke with VOD say they are weighed down by heavy debt and years of failed crops, and see fear and hopelessness ahead of them.
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