News
Irrigation systems ‘must be improved’
Experts have urged Thailand to develop its irrigation system to ensure food security for the world’s growing population and a precautionary cover against the impact of climate change. More than 1,200 policy-makers, academics, and NGOs from 45 countries gathered in Chiang Mai on November 6 for ...
Rice standards run out of steam
The government is seeking funding to complete its effort to draft standards for 11 local varieties of rice as part of an initiative aimed at facilitating efforts to market Cambodia’s most important agricultural crop, a government official said on November 6. Chheng Uddara, a department ...
B127bn earmarked for rice scheme
The government’s scheme to delay releasing 10 million tonnes of new rice supply to the market, aimed at propping up sinking prices, will use a combined 127 billion baht in loans and subsidies, says the chief of the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. Of ...
Rain, flooding expected to hit Vietnam coffee belt
Torrential rain is forecast to continue in Vietnam’s biggest coffee growing provinces in coming days, government reports said on November 4, potentially further disrupting harvesting of the 2016/2017 crop. That has been stoking worries about supply from the world’s top producer of the robusta variety ...
Brunei delegation eyes rice and paddy exports
A Delegation from Brunei Darussalam will visit Myanmar to discuss buying rice and paddy, according to agriculture ministry officials, as the government continues an urgent search for new export markets. The Brunei delegation will visit Myanmar later this month to discuss importing high-quality rice, paddy and ...
Govt begins buying up rice paddy to help farmers amid slump in prices
Government agencies have begun implementing measures aimed at helping rice farmers sell their produce amid declining paddy prices. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is buying up paddy of Hom Mali fragrant rice from farmers throughout the country, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya ...
Indigenous lands are even more critical to preserving the Earth than we thought
Nearly one quarter of the carbon stored above ground in tropical forests is currently in the care of indigenous and traditional communities. A new report suggests that keeping those populations on the land and guaranteeing their right to it could be the key to keeping ...
Additional Bt20 billion rice boost ‘may not be enough’
While welcoming the government’s decision to subsidise the rice trade by another Bt20 billion, paddy growers and analysts on November 1 said the move might be too little and short-term to tackle problems in the entire system.The Rice Policy Management Committee on November 1 increased its budget ...
Tobacco turns over a new leaf
Agriculture officials and struggling smallholder tobacco farmers are cautiously hopeful that tariff exemptions granted under a new trade agreement with Vietnam will lift sagging demand for their crops. Khann Samban, director of industrial crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the market for tobacco ...
Thai forced labour case pushed to November 28
A forced labour case involving 14 Myanmar workers and a giant poultry exporter in Thailand’s Lopburi province went unresolved in court on October 31. Unsatisfied with the 1.7 million Thai baht in compensation awarded by the Lopburi Labour Protection and Welfare Office against the poultry farm ...
