Drought and government inaction hit Cambodia’s rice industry hard

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By: Logan Conner and Paul Millar

The effects of Cambodia’s recent drought will serve to exacerbate existing structural weaknesses in the rice sector, say experts

Squatting on a lawn chair in front of her shop near Phnom Penh’s railway station, rice-vendor Ev does not seem too concerned by the worst drought to hit Southeast Asia in more than 50 years. Poker-faced, she brushes aside suggestions that the dry conditions could continue to put the nation’s vulnerable rice industry at risk – a crisis the Cambodian government has done little to address.

Much to grain: rice vendor Ev sits in her shop near Phnom Penh’s railway station. Photo: Paul Millar

“I never think about government support,” she said. “The way I do my business only depends on supply and demand.” For the Kingdom’s struggling rice-export industry, though, the challenges of the future are harder to ignore. Despite a rise in global rice prices of as much as 16%, Cambodia’s fragile rice sector is in no position to take advantage of the high price its crop could command.

Despite recent downfalls, the effects of the worst drought in half a century still bite. There is simply not enough water for farmers to plant this year’s wet season crop. This comes on the back of last year’s drought, when producers reached just over half the government’s target of 1m tonnes.

For one of the world’s top ten rice exporters – and a country where about half of the population’s livelihoods are estimated to depend on the rice sector – structural weaknesses continue to undermine what could be a flourishing industry. CEO of Battambang Rice Investment Company Kann Kunthy says the global price rise is far from ideal for farmers struggling to keep up with increased demand.

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