The annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony, a symbolic traditional event held to predict the strength of the coming year’s farming season, will be held this year in Battambang province on May 6, an official has said.

“We plan to perform the festival in every province in Cambodia so all citizens can see it and join in,” Chhin Ketana, secretary-general of the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals, said yesterday.

While the ceremony has traditionally been held in Phnom Penh, the committee has also scheduled the 2016 festival in Prey Veng province and in Takeo province the following year, Ketana added.

This year’s performance will be presided over by Battambang Governor Chan Sophal and his wife, who will play the roles of King Meak and Queen Mehua, the symbolic husband-and-wife duo who guide the wooden plough and sow rice seeds at the ceremony.

King Norodom Sihamoni, senior government officials and foreign dignitaries will also attend the event, though Prime Minister Hun Sen has yet to confirm he will go, Ketana said.