Rice output increases even despite heavy floods

Flood near Phnom Penh International Airport on 2nd October, 2011.

By Rann Reuy
Friday, 09 December 2011
The Phnom Penh Post

Despite the worst floods in a decade, rice production in 2011 could surpass that of last year, the minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries [MAFF] claimed.

During the opening of the Kamchay dam in Kampot province Wednesday, Minister Chan Sarun said rice output this year would be similar to or higher than last year’s harvest.

Floods that started in early September wiped out 10 per cent of the Kingdom’s rice crop, or 220,000 hectares of rice paddy, Hun Sen said during a recent speech. Still, increased yield could supplement the lost crop.