Banteay Meanchey Farmers Urged to Grow Short-duration Crops

Banteay Meanchey Farmers Urged to Grow Short-duration Crops

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday urged farmers to form communities to grow agricultural crops and breed livestock to supplement their income by selling their produce to local markets as the country is fighting the spread of the coronavirus.

Provincial governor Oum Reatrey said in a press conference on the progress and further direction of the Banteay Meanchey provincial administration at the Council of Ministers yesterday that during the global pandemic and with the temporary closure of the Thai border gates, provincial authorities have organised three working groups to assist farmers in strengthening the agricultural sector, enhancing their living conditions and producing agricultural crops to support the local market.

He added the first working group aims to encourage farmers to form a community to grow short-duration crops such as wax gourd, cabbage, eggplant, cucumbers, and raise livestock. While the second working group will help raise funds or get credit from sources to provide loans to farmers, while the third working group will help find markets for farmers’ crops.

“At the same time, we have also set up a community market so farmers can sell their produce. We are also looking for methods to collect and store the produce from the community to sell to other regions as well,” he said.

Mr Reatrey added: “When Thailand closed the border, we see that our farmers are generating a lot of income. For example, cabbage previously sold for 500 riel per kilo, but now it can be sold for 2,000 riel. Therefore, we are very proud with the effort put in by the working groups promoting agriculture.”

Pang Vannaseth, director of the provincial Agriculture Department, said currently the department has been assisting with the technical aspects and finding a market for farmers’ crops, which have more than 40 communities across the province.

“We hope the work in these communities will help to better improve the production of food in Banteay Meanchey province and even produce excess for export as well,” he said.

According to a report from Banteay Meanchey provincial authority, the province has 249,449 hectares of rice crops, 106,516 hectares of industrial including 1,927 hectares of vegetable crops approximately generating 20 tonnes of produce each year.