Massive flooding in Thailand and elsewhere have destroyed large parcels of rice farmland, pushing rice prices up and leaving Southeast Asia at greater risk of a food price shock.

The rice-consuming region is under the threat of food supply shortages after heavy rains and massive flooding destroyed crops in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The United Nations says it is closely monitoring the potential for “serious food shortages” in several parts of Southeast Asia after floods affected agricultural activities and aid deliveries.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Information and Early Warning System, in a report released on Oct 21, says although no precise figures are available, continuous rain and flooding is estimated to have damaged at least 1.6 million hectares of standing crop in Thailand, representing more than 12% of total national cropped area. Another 12% of the total area under paddy in Cambodia is also believed to have been damaged.

About 6% of rice farmland is damaged in the Philippines, while in Vietnam it is reported that as much as 7.5% of the farmland is destroyed.

Yang Razali Kassim, a senior fellow and analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, says food security in Southeast Asia will certainly be affected by the floods in the region.

“The scale of the floods is unprecedented, and therefore, the threat on regional food security is also unprecedented. Rice supplies to the region is bound to be affected, adding to the pressure on food prices that have already seen rises in recent times due to shortages caused by erratic weather,” he said.

Before the floods, said to be the Thailand’s worst in the last 50 years, the Bangkok government forecast rice production to stand at 25.8 million tons. But, the government predicts it may lose some six million tons of rough-rice from flooding. Analysts say Thailand, which accounts for 30% of global rice exports, has already lost three million tons of rice due to floods.

The price of rice is hovering at about $650 per ton currently, but rice traders are expecting the price to increase to $750 per ton, inching closer to its record-high level of $1,000 per ton in 2008.

A rice trader in Malaysia, who did not want to be identified, told VOA global prices are expected to increase even further, with no sign of normalization in the near-term as the flood damages in Thailand and elsewhere are found to be worse than initially expected.

However, many Asian countries control rice prices via government subsidies, making it unlikely that price hikes will hit most consumers in the near term.

Kamal Malhotra, U.N. Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, said rice farmers living below the poverty line are among the most vulnerable to the impact of the floods, as they are likely to have the least bargaining power, least resources to organize themselves collectively and are more likely to sit at the lowest end of the production chain.

“Whether price increase[s] will result in income increase[s] for the majority of those involved in rice production varies, subject to how the production chain is structured and the relative bargaining powers between farmers, distributors and retailers,” he says.

Malhotra said that while floods and other climatic conditions may cause price increases, the current high prices of rice and other food commodities are also partly cost-pushed due to fuel price hike and also the ongoing policy to replace food crops with cash crops.

“Without reversing some of these policies, food prices will be extremely volatile to short-term ‘shocks’ such as floods, subsequently affecting food security,” he said.

He added that shortages in food supplies are exacerbated by the possibility of panic-driven protectionism that may also push up prices.

Responding to the calamity, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) recently inked an agreement with China, Japan and South Korea to stockpile rice to be used during disasters or contingencies. Each of the countries agreed to provide a rice stock of 787,000 tons to tackle natural disasters.

In 2008, a global food price shock mainly driven by rising oil prices caused political and social unrests in several poor and developed countries. A World Bank report released on February 15 of this year said that continuously rising food prices have pushed another 44 million people into extreme poverty and exposed them more to hunger.

The floods that hit Southeast Asia have not only destroyed crops and livestock, but also claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of people.

Read the original here:
Floods Leave Southeast Asia More Vulnerable to Food Price Shocks

Cambodia’s woodlands are seeing continued deforestation, despite a plan by the government to curb illegal logging, environmental groups say.

Authorities say they have a plan to protect the forest, but non-governmental groups say the problem persists, including through an increase in land concessions, and massive illegal logging by the military.

Cambodia has an official strategy to protect the forests over the next 18 years, including land management practices and tighter governmental controls over still exiting forests. Experts say as little as 30 percent of the country’s forest cover remains, while logging continues to be a problem.

George Boden, a deforestation expert for Global Witness, which was ejected from Cambodia in 2005 after detailed reporting on corruption and illegal logging, said the practice has continued.

Officials close to Prime Minister Hun Sen have sold off forests for their own benefit in an ongoing practice, he said. Global Witness reported in 2007 that a kleptocratic elite continued to earn riches by selling off forestland.

However, Than Sarath, a management official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the government has six programs to protect the forests. Part of that includes putting money that forests earn back into their own protection, he said. There are also plans to sell carbon credits, he said.

However, villagers remain unconvinced.

Svay Poun, 50, a villager in Preah Vihear province’s Roveng district, said he was dubious of government efforts, following a series of concessions in Prey Lang forest, a vast stretch of woodlands that spans four provinces in east and north of the country.

Villagers there say their livelihoods have been threatened by rubber plantation concessions to companies that have not followed regulations to protect the forest.

“A plantation is not the same as a forest,” said villager Chun Yin, who lives in Kampong Thom province. “As we see it, when will the trees grow again? It doesn’t have animals, fruit or vegetables, or growth from the old generations.”

Demand for Cambodia’s high-quality timber comes from China and Vietnam, according to environmental experts.

Chut Vuthy, president of the Natural Resource Conservation Group, said timber must either be transported by road, or shipped. That means it has to cross checkpoints.

For Vietnam, the Doung checkpoint in Kampong Cham province sees up to 12 trucks a day cross with illegal timber, he said, while ships to China leave from ports in Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces. The Cardamom Mountains remain a main source of such timber, experts said, especially in Pursat province.

Than Sarath said legal logging revenue was part of the national budget, but he declined to confirm the amount.

Along the Thai border, meanwhile, illegal logging has increased since tensions escalated between Thailand and Cambodia over Preah Vihear temple in 2008, villagers say.

A former truck driver, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he drove trucks for top military officials in the province, as well as members of Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit.

Valuable timber is cut from the forest and stored at military headquarters in the province, he said. No one is allowed to enter the compound because of national security, he said.

Every month, he said, military officers issue orders to lower ranking soldiers to cut trees in the jungle.

“After they cut the trees, they transport them to the military headquarters, about 20 kilometers from Preah Vihear,” he said. From there they are shipped to Kampong Cham and Vietnam, he said.

A villager in Preah Vihear province, who asked not to be named, said the practice continues. He counts four or five trucks a night. Trucks go up carrying soldiers and come down carrying timber covered up with tarpaulin, he said.

“The relevant authorities are afraid to stop those trucks, because they fear losing their positions,” he said.

Chut Vuthy said five to six major smuggling operations are still underway in the country.

“We have all kinds of laws to protect natural resources, but from day to day, the forest is still decreasing,” he said.

Read the original post:
Despite Some Efforts, Forests Continue To Dwindle

The Sam Rainsy Party has sent a request to Prime Minister Hun Sen requesting that he cancel economic land concessions in Prey Lang forest, in the east of the country, where thousands are villagers say their livelihoods are under threat.

Nine SRP parliamentarians singled out more than 6,000 hectares in a concession to a Vietnamese company, CRCK, among others, and suggested the forest be listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Hun Sen approved a 70-year lease to CRCK in September 2009, clearing the way for a contract between the company and Ministry of Agriculture for the clearance of forest for a rubber plantation.

In their letter, SRP lawmakers said more than 29,000 people from four different provinces had signed a petition for intervention in the concessions.

Kampong Thom Governor Chhun Chhorn defended the CRCK rubber plantation, saying it would bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area. He accused the Sam Rainsy Party was using the concession as a “political issue.”

However, Men Sothavrin, an SRP lawmaker for the province, said the company was not complying with government development plans and was not likely to bring as much economic development as hoped.

Chhit Vuthy, director of the Natural Resources Protection Group, said Prey Lang forest in Preah Vihear province had been cleared of 30 percent of its tree cover.

“The company clears the forest before the rubber plantation so that’s why the company has a lot of income before they help people,” he said.

Continue reading here:
Opposition Asks Hun Sen to Protect Prey Lang Forest

Cambodia is building up its rural infrastructure in an effort to link itself to its neighbors, under an “economic corridor” project aided by the Asian Development Bank.

Proponents of the southern economic corridor, part of the Greater Mekong Subregion project, say it will bring benefits to villagers like those in Kampong Thom district’s Sambo Prey Kuk temple, in Prasat Sambo district.

Here, a bumpy dirty road connecting the temple to the main provincial town was recently improved.

“When the road was rough, not many people came,” said Kong Sophy, who owns a restaurant near the ancient temple, where buses of tourists now visit. “But now that the road is good, more visitors are coming. So I do well in sales.”

Tem Bunteng, a local tour guide, agrees that better infrastructure has improved tourism numbers to the temple, which is one of the most-visited temples in the country outside those of Angkor Wat.

“The people here want a good road because it can bring in more tourists,” Tem Bunteng said.

“It’s very important because this is one of the most attractive spots in the country,” Ingrid Overstegen, a Dutch tourist said one afternoon at the temple. “Tourists want to come here, and they bring money to your country, so it’s good for your economy.”

Economists say the connection between rural and urban areas across borders in the Mekong countries can help boost economies across the region.

“There’s a huge potential in tourism and agriculture,” Arjun Goswami, the ADB’s director for regional cooperation, said in an interview during a regional forum on the economic corridor last month. “Now, both of these sectors, in terms of cross-border movement of people or cross-border movement of agricultural goods and produce, depend on the husbanding of natural resources.”

However, that potential can also bring some strife to communities who say they are not benefiting.

That has been the case for 500 villagers from the Prey Lang forest, which spans four eastern provinces and is the site of at least two large rubber plantation concessions to Vietnamese companies. Villagers say the cross-border concessions are threatening their livelihoods from the large expanse of natural forest.

While tourists were admiring Sambo Prey Kuk temple earlier this month, these villagers were holding a forum in Kampong Thom to express their grievances.

“The other 20 provinces know clearly that in history, there are no other forests left in Cambodia,” Ros Soeunn, a 77-year-old villager told the forum, which had gathered under a tent in Kampong Thom town.

“Only this Prey Lang still exists,” he shouted into a microphone at a gathering of lawmakers and local authorities. “Do you want to destroy it all? And where can the people live?”

“You give companies millions of hectares, but your own people, nothing,” he said. “You just allow others from outside to develop, but what is development for, if the people weep bitterly?”

Goswami said the risks that may come from increased development will have to be addressed.

“Of course countries that have natural resources will want to use that natural resource base for growth, and other countries will want to get access to it,” he said, referring to agricultural development in general. “The issue is not trying to stop it; the issue is trying to make sure that the risks are best mitigated.”

Original post:
Risks, Rewards as Economic Corridor Develops

[Editor’s Note: The Mekong River Commission, or MRC, whose members include Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, is holding its annual meeting in Preah Sihanouk through Saturday, to debate whether to allow a proposed dam in Xayaburi province, Laos. Opponents say the dam could be damaging to the ecology of the river and the livelihoods of the people who rely on it. Cambodia has yet to determine its support for the dam, Sin Niny, vice chairman of Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee, told VOA Khmer in an interview at the outset of the meeting.]

Why is the decision on whether to build the Xayaburi dam so important, especially for Cambodia?

The Xayaburi plan by Laos relates to the 1995 Mekong Agreement, in which Article 5 requires that any usage of the water in the [Mekong] mainstream requires prior consultation or agreement between member countries. Laos’ Xayaburi dam is a mainstream dam and there is, thus, a requirement of consent from [other] member countries.

What has been done so far as part of this consultation requirement?

Currently, in accordance with the 1995 Mekong Agreement as well as procedures on water usage, MRC member countries are consulting with one another on the Xayaburi dam project, which was proposed by Laos. In each member country, forums are held to invite stakeholders to participate, including ministry representatives, government experts, NGOs and civil society, and local communities, to discuss the issue. In Cambodia, two forums were held in February.

In those forums, what were the suggestions of civil society and local communities?

It’s their right to say whatever they want about this dam project. They were not required to agree with the dam project. But when I attended the Kampong Som [Preah Sihanouk] forum, civil society and NGOs said that they were not against the development plan, but their position is to take part in the debate so as to ensure that there are not too many negative impacts to our economy and people, to make sure that the plan would mitigate the negative impacts to an acceptable degree. This was their common position.

What concerns have Cambodian participants raised?

The participants raised a number of concerns, which the Cambodian National Mekong Committee submitted to the MRC Secretariat to further forward to the Lao side. We have requested that Laos study those concerns more thoroughly.

What were those concerns?

Firstly and most importantly, the documents [of the Xayaburi Environmental Impact Assessment by Laos] were sent late and there was not enough time to study them.

Secondly, the mitigation of impacts on fisheries as analyzed in the study is not clear. How can the dam be designed to allow fish to pass through? The dam plan includes a fish passage, but the participants in the forum think that there are more than one species of fish, and the variety of fish species have different migration patterns.

The third major concern relates to natural disasters that can occur at the dam site. For example, in the case of an earthquake at the dam site, have those who studied the project planned for this? The forum requested that the issue be studied more thoroughly—because now climate change is becoming more severe and most recently people are concerned about earthquakes in Japan. It has been observed that there have been earthquakes at the Xayaburi site as recently as 2011.

Fourthly, the project would not only impact fish, but also affect agriculture. The silt carried downriver by the Mekong would be blocked by the dam.

The fifth concern is the impact on the more than one million people downriver from the dam, whose livelihood is directly dependent on the resources of the Mekong River. Without proper consideration, the project could severely threaten their livelihood.

What has been Cambodia’s position on the Xayaburi dam so far?

I want to make it clear that it is impossible [at this point] for us to have a clear position—whether or not to agree on the construction. We have to wait for the results of the study. If the results of the study show that the impacts are acceptable, we should allow the construction to go ahead. If the impacts in the study remain unclear or are too severe to mitigate, we have to discuss our position further within the Cambodian government circle, in greater depth. In the case that the impacts cannot be mitigated, the Cambodian National Mekong Committee will report to the Cambodian government and request their guidance.

What can be expected from this week’s MRC meeting in Preah Sihanouk?

According to MRC procedures, there is a six-month consultation period after [MRC] is notified of the project by the proposing country. The final decision on the Xayaburi is not due until April 22. But the Joint Committee meeting in Sihanoukville will also discuss this issue. Procedurally, if relevant parties cannot reach an agreement within the six months, the ‘prior consultation’ can be extended. In the consultation in Sihanoukville on the 24th, 25th and 26th, the concerns of Vietnam and Thailand will similarly be unaddressed by Laos, because there is not enough time. So I believe, the meeting will discuss those concerns. I don’t know what will be decided in the meeting, but my guess is that the prior consultation will be extended.

Read more from the original source:
Cambodia Undecided on Major Laos Dam: Official

Villagers from four different provinces say they are concerned about two land concessions that could destroy a strip of forest and deprive them of their livelihoods.

The Prey Lang forest spans the provinces of Kampong Thom, Steung Trang, Kratie and Preah Vihear. Two rubber concessions cut into the forest in Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom. But villagers from all four provinces say they need the forest to make a living.

Local authorities barred the villagers from demonstrating over the concessions, totaling nearly 20,000 hectares, in February. But villagers told reporters in Phnom Penh this week the concessions to companies CNCK and PNT will harm the forest.

“Please, government, give the land concessions back to the communities and let the natural forest grow,” a coalition of villagers said in a statement.

Kampong Thom Governor Chhun Choan said he was unaware of land clearances in Prey Lang.

However, Kham Pheoun, governor of Kratie, said villagers in the region could also be prone to “illegal logging.”

Chheng Kim Sun, chief of forestry administration for the Ministry of Agriculture, could not be reached for comment.

Go here to read the rest:
Rubber Concessions Worry Villagers in Northeast

CEDAC’s enterprise manager Lang Seng Haung said the organisation is set to ink a deal tomorrow with Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Improving Farmer Association to buy 15 tonnes of palm sugar each year.  The price would be set at around US$1,000 per tonne. “We hope that CEDAC will get palm sugar products of high quality that can be exported into the international markets,” he said.

Kampong Speu palm sugar was granted GI status last year, under a World Trade Organisation  agreement. It brands products based on the areas for which they are famous, such as champagne from France and Cambodia’s Kampot pepper.

Sam Saroeun, president of Cambodian Sugar Association in Kampong Speu, said that the organisation had already inked a new contract this year to sell 10 tonnes of sugar to a company called Development & Appropriate Technology. He added that the association has 172 producers in Samraong Tong and Odong districts.Read the original article here:

Kampong Speu sugar in new deal

For five years now, Yin Narong has used a new method to plant rice. Instead of planting from the seeds of the previous year’s harvest, he buys new seeds from a local company.

The difference, he said in an interview, has been a boost in yield of 200 kilograms of rice each harvest on one-fifth a hectare.

“Now with pure seeds we get up to 900 kilograms,” the 52-year-old farmer in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district said. He also uses less seeds, about 15 kilograms with the new method compared to 20 kilograms with the old.

A relatively low number of farmers like Yin Narong are using the new-seed method. But traditional habits persist, preventing the country from reaching its rice potential, agricultural economists say.

Many farmers still use rice seeds from the previous harvest to replant their paddies, instead of buying prime, new seeds from companies. Agricultural experts say the use of “pure” seeds can boost yields up to 20 percent.

“It is a challenge for Cambodia as the farmers still use their seeds saved for generations,” Nov Seiha, research manager for the Economic Institute of Cambodia, said. “Sometimes, the genes of the seeds have already died out.”

The old practice means that Cambodians harvest less rice per hectare than their regional neighbors.

A typical Cambodia harvest yields 2.6 tons per hectares, compared to 2.8 tons in Thailand, 3.5 tons in Laos and 4.9 tons in Vietnam, according to government statistics.

With more than 2.7 million hectares of cultivatable land, agriculture experts hope new methods and seeds can help the country reach a goal of 1 million tons of annual rice export by 2015.

The rice seed industry, however, remains in a nascent stage. Cambodia has only one seed company. By comparison, Thailand has 85.

Cambodia’s company, Aquip Seed Co., Ltd., sells 2,600 tons or rice seeds annually to about 160,000 households, according to research by the Cambodian Economic Institute. In a report, the institute criticized the domestic seed sector as “backward” and “afraid to modernize.”

The Ministry of Agriculture, which is charged in part with improving the sector, owns 49 percent of the company.

But company officials insist they are not interested in a monopoly.

“We need newcomers to boost demand in our country,” said Kong Vitank, chief executive of the company. “Then it also opens equal competition in the seed business.”

Ouk Makara, director of the ministry’s Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, said the ministry has “no authority” to maintain a monopoly.

“Our farmers have small plots of land, so they are not very interested in the company’s seeds,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government continues its efforts to improve the rice trade. It has introduced 10 varieties of rice paddy for farmers to grow this season, including rice that is popular in foreign markets.

Yong Saingkoma, resident of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, said if farmers do not want to buy new seeds each season, they can use their own seeds more effectively by choosing the right ones to plant.

“The starting point is to make sure farmers across the country know how to purify their seeds for the next growing seasons,” he said

Excerpt from:
Rice Experts See Better Prospects in New Seeds

The Council of Ministers has approved a subdecree that it says will help farmers find markets for their products and create a major role for the Ministry of Agriculture in contract farming, officials said Monday.

The subdecree on contract farming, approved Friday by the council, aims to improve farming techniques and other aid to the agricultural sector. It would also help private companies organize farming to improve production quality and guarantee pricing.

“The subdecree allows a direct relationship between sellers and farmers in signing of contracts,” said Mao Sopheareth, director of the Agriculture Ministry’s industrial development department.

The subdecree will also “eliminate middlemen and bring investors directly to meet farmers or farmer associations,” he said.

Farmers have long complained of middlemen who earn much more for marked up goods. At the same time, agricultural experts say Cambodian production often lacks quality control that would allow more export to foreign markets. Cambodia hopes to produce 1 million tons of rice for export by 2015.

Nov Seiha, an economist at the Economic Institute of Cambodia, said farming contracts can be a key step in promoting the growth of agricultural production. However, the fluctuating price of rice and Cambodia’s small rice stocks remain a concern, he said.

Farming contracts have not worked in the past, because some farmers are able to sell at a high price from traders, he said.

However, Yong Saing Koma, head of the Cambodian Center for the Study and Development of Agriculture, said the subdecree was good for farmers overall because it regulates contracts.

“The farmers have a clear contract on the market, quality, quantity and standards with the sellers,” he said. “The company has clarity for buying their products with quality, quantity and standards.”

Read this article:
Ministers Approve Regulation for Contract Farming

The increase came as a result of increased investor confidence in the Kingdom’s financial sector, he said in a copy of a speech released following the bank’s closed-door annual meeting on Tuesday.

“The growth in both deposits and loans reflected that the Cambodian banking system has developed well in scope and operational extent,” he said.

“It also shows that the sector has gained more confidence from both local and foreign customers and investors.”

Deposits at the Kingdom’s banking institutions totalled US$4.16 billion last year, a 26.3 percent increase on $3.3 billion in 2009, according to his speech. Lending increased 26.7 percent to $3.18 billion, from $2.51 billion in 2009.

Non-performing loans also improved, with rate of bad loans dropping to 3 percent at the end of 2010, from 6 percent in 2009, according to the NBC. A non-performing loan is defined by the central bank as a loan on which the borrower has been in default for three months. Foreign reserves held by the central bank had increased 7.7 percent to $2.55 billion at the end of 2010, from $2.36 billion a year earlier.

ACLEDA Bank president and chief executive officer In Channy said that sector trust was increasing in Cambodia.

“People are beginning to understand and trust our banking industry, as it offers convenient and safe service,” he said. “On the other hand, strong regulation of the industry can provide mutual benefit.”

On Tuesday, the IMF raised concerns over the NBC’s capacity to manage its oversight responsibilities. A central bank representative said the bank was making an effort to strengthen itself.

ACLEDA’s outstanding loans increased 36.82 percent to $744 million in 2010, from $544 million in 2009.

Source; the phnom penh post