Cambodia Gets Phillipine Rice Seeds

By MARVYN N. BENANING
MB.com.ph
April 19, 2012,

Cambodia will soon get hybrid rice seeds from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) for mass cultivation.

Sources at the Department of Agriculture (DA) revealed on Monday afternoon that Cambodia relies on traditional varieties and does not use synthetic fertilizers and the introduction of PhilRice hybrid rice seeds would raise its current average rice output at 2.5 metric tons (MT) per hectare.

The average Philippine rice output is 3.74 MT per hectare. However, Cambodia has a population of about eight million but its rice growing area is about the same as that of the Philippines.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said that Cambodia is willing to supply part of the country’s rice requirements at prices much better than those offered by Thailand and Vietnam.

Philippine Confederation of Grains Association (Philcongrains) president Herculano Co. said many Cambodian farmers rely on Vietnam rice mills to process their palay.