Agricultural commodities, processing and products

Protected areas and other biodiversity hotspots across Southeast Asia are increasingly under threat from expanding rubber plantations, with Cambodia at risk of losing more ecologically important land than any of its neighbours, a recent study reports. According to the study, if current trends continue, Cambodia stands ...

At a time when little is going right for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, Thailand is being hit hard by weak global demand for its major agricultural exports. Among the people most affected are the country’s rubber producers, suffering depressed prices since January 2014. After surging to more ...

A lack of rainfall and scorching heat is destroying the livelihoods of Lao farmers, who say their crops are dying amid an ongoing drought in the Southeast Asian region linked to the El Niño phenomenon. The drought since May has left those in Laos who rely on ...

The arrest of several Chinese buyers for tax evasion and the weakening Chinese economy is hurting trade with Myanmar’s largest rice export market, said U Soe Tun, vice chair of the Myanmar Rice Federation. China is the destination for over half of Myanmar’s rice exports. This ...

Cambodia rice farmers have started planting for the 2015 main rice crop in May and will continue until July end. However, unusually high temperatures and low rainfall are raising concerns that this year’s paddy production will suffer significantly due to the drought-inducing El Nino weather ...

The Cambodian Rice Federation held a press conference yesterday to allay fears drummed up by local media that fake rice is being distributed in the Kingdom. Rumours began to surface this week when a reporter with local news site Khmerload published a story claiming to have ...

Stakeholders from the government, development partners, civil society organisations and the private sector gathered on 10 July to discuss and exchange information on food and nutrition security in Laos. Meeting at the Policy Dialogue on Food and Nutrition Security and the Asean Integrated Food Security Framework in ...

The summer-autumn paddy rice output in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s food basket, is projected to rise 1.6 percent from last year to 9.07 million tonnes, the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper reported, citing data from the agriculture ministry. Keep reading ...

A series of photos of the severe drought in southwest China. Click to view   ...

Poverty and scarce food supply was just a fact of life for the people in Koutou village, Luang Namtha province, Laos. With most people relying on rice farming and livestock for their livelihood, there were few options for other income. Koutou is one of 13 villages ...