Battambang bounces back with surge in rice production

Growth in loans provided by the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) helped to increase rice cultivation and production. MoI

Cambodia generated revenue of $870 million from both rice and paddy exports of which 80 percent of the revenue was generated from paddy export while only 20 percent came from rice, a sum of 2.64 million tonnes in the first four months this year.

A report from the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) recently announced that the Kingdom exported 650,000 tonnes of rice worth $466 million while the paddy export reached four million tonnes in 2023, earning about $1.3 billion from a total of 4.65 million tonnes of rice and paddy exported to China and the European Union (EU).

In the first four months of 2024, the country earned $170 million from 240,000 tonnes of rice exports and another $700 million was received from 2.4 million tonnes of paddy exports, a total of $870 million in the first four months, the statement added.

Heng Sith, Battambang Provincial Agriculture Officer told the media yesterday, “A few years ago, the owners of large-scale rice mill factories in Battambang faced huge challenges due to the lack of reserve budget to stockpiled paddy as the rice mill dryers are still slow.

The limited ability of the paddy dryers led the production chain to slow down until the end of last year but all the 114 factories in Battambang resumed their operation, increasing its productivity by 70-90 percent, he added.

Heng Pheng, a rice mill factory owner based in Thmor Kol district, Battambang said, “In recent years, there has been a shortage of paddy warehouses and dryers because all farmers rush in harvesting their crops, making the paddy price drop down very low.”

“But this year, the problem has been solved by the provision of loans extended by the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) which helped to recover the country’s agricultural sector.”

He continued that paddy warehouses and dryers are no longer a problem, however, farmers and traders are dealing with a new threat which is the rise of production costs which happened by the increasing prices of fuel and fertiliser instead.

Besides, the standard factories also need extra capital during the harvest season in order to buy paddy from farmers, turning them into rice mills through processing for export purposes.

Pheng expressed satisfaction with the Royal Government of Cambodia’s policy of injecting a $100 million package reserved for purchasing agricultural products especially the paddy from Khmer farmers.

Through this budget, warehouse owners are no longer putting financial issues into their concern, leading to a worry-free in collecting paddy from local farmers for stock in the warehouses.

The procedure will main the rice mill price during both harvest and growing season by stopping the overflow of the agricultural product on a certain period which further leading to a lose of its export potential.

Published Date: May 15, 2024