BANTEAY MEANCHEY: The rice seeds provided by the Prime Minister of Cambodia to farmers in Banteay Meanchey province to recover from the floods in 2022, can yield up to four to four point five tons of rice per hectare, while the selling price of rice has also gotten better.
The Director of the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Pang Vannaseth, and the first Deputy Chairman of the Disaster Management Committee, Senior Minister Kun Kim, conducted an inspection of non-seasonal rice farming practice in Mongkul Borei district of Banteay Meanchey province on Thursday, 2 February 2023. During the inspection, Pang Vannaseth remarked that the rice seeds will provide a good yield that can help restore the losses made by farmers during last year’s floods.
"In Banteay Meanchey province, the area allocated for rice cultivation is 310,000 hectares, of which more than 50,000 hectares are planted with fragrant rice and IR rice that can be harvested twice, early in the season and end of the season until February 2023, and the second harvest covers about 6% with a yield per hectare of four to four point five tons," he added.
Senior Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the Disaster Management Committee, Kun Kim, remarked that in addition to being able to produce more rice, the price of rice this year is also better.
"Farmers can grow more than four tons per hectare and sell at a good price in Kampong Thom and Siem Reap, one million riel for one ton of rice paddy, while in Banteay Meanchey, the price per ton is 1.2 million riel," he said.
In 2022, in order to help citizens recover from the floods that destroyed and damaged many crops, the Royal Government provided 7,000 tons of rice seeds for farmers in Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Preah Vihear, Pursat and some other provinces.
According to a report from Banteay Meanchey province, the 2022 floods impacted around 38,000 hectares of rice, completely destroying 28,000 hectares. Seeing this, Prime Minister Hun Sen provided 522.4 tons of 504 varieties of rice, and has helped to rehabilitate around 6,225 hectares of rice fields.
