News
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 ...
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 ...
Young farmers turn to social media to stimulate growth

The rice price crisis may be a pressing problem for most rice growers, but not for a group of young farmers who know how to exploit sales through social media. For Pongpat Sukarbjai, the key to selling crops is in reducing the use of pesticides and ...
Migration crisis looms over Mekong Delta

Young people are leaving the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s rice bowl, while the region’s economic growth is declining. These issues were discussed at the conference about socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta 30 years after the economic reforms implemented in 1986 held by Vietnam Academy of Social ...
Rice farmers despair amid low prices

Kneeling and sobbing before a top commerce ministry official, a Phichit farmer appealed to the government on October 30 to help growers suffering from the fall in rice prices to 5,000 baht a tonne, the lowest level in decades. Sanit Kaho, a 63-year-old farmer, held the legs ...
Gov’t eyes million-tonne rice quota deal with Indonesia

Cambodia is close to signing an ambitious agreement with the Indonesian government that would pave the way for the Kingdom’s rice producers to export 1 million tonnes of rice under a new quota scheme, a state official said on October 24. Soeng Sophary, spokesperson for the ...
Rice harvest prompts wary sales

The government will pause its efforts to dispose of state rice stocks to curb any adverse impact on domestic rice prices as the latest harvest enters the market. According to Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, with the annual rice harvest season beginning ...
Vanishing Mekong? shifting tropical storms threaten a great river delta

Recent changes in the patterns of tropical storms are threatening the future of the Mekong River delta in Vietnam. This is one of the world’s great deltas. It is home to more than 20m people and the rice that is grown on its fertile land ...
Judges and rice: Cambodia's expanding reliance on China

Cambodia is rapidly expanding its diplomatic affair with China. Early last week it appealed to Beijing for help amid plunging rice pricesand then three days later Phnom Penh signed an MoU seeking Chinese assistance in overhauling its much maligned judiciary. The memorandum of understanding allows China ...
Paddy farmers risk losses as prices fall

Paddy prices in the capital are falling on weak demand and the drop risks damaging the market, farmers and traders said. The market price for 100 baskets of stored manaw thukha paddy in Nay Pyi Taw was almost K850,000 in September, but has since fallen to ...