Prime Minister Hun Sen has completed a one-week mission to distribute nearly 4,000 tonnes of rice seed to nearly 40,000 households who have been impacted by flooding in six provinces.
Of the nearly 40,000 households who received rice seed, over 5,000 were in Banteay Meanchey province, 10,000 in Battambang, 5,000 in Pursat, 3,000 in Kampong Chhnang, 7,000 in Kampong Thom and more than 6,000 in Prey Veng.
While giving a speech in Prey Veng province to complete his week-long mission on October 30, Hun Sen lauded the efforts made by provincial authorities and members of the armed forces who were called in to help address the flooding situation across the Kingdom.
He also thanked members of his own Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng for their work in resolving the problems the flooding had caused.
“This year, the flood volumes were not excessively high, but the flooding spread out [almost] everywhere, with 20 provinces affected,” he said. “So a significant number of households have been affected. Just this week, I personally distributed rice seed to as many as 38,313 households including 6,112 in Prey Veng.”
Hun Sen noted that farmers were in the midst of growing their rainy season rice when torrential rains caused flooding and the Mekong River overflowed, damaging their crops.
“I have travelled from Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Kampong Chhnang and yesterday Kampong Thom and today I arrived in Prey Veng. We see that the waters have now receded,” he said.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Dith Tina said in Battambang on October 24 that after meeting with farmers from Kratie, Tbong Khmum, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces, he had the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the production chain for unmilled rice and milled rice by observing operations at Green Trade Company, a state-owned enterprise.
Tina then met with Green Trade director Phou Puy and other relevant parties, including rice buyers and producers, to discuss his observations.
“[Puy] expressed optimism when it came to quality rice seed distribution plans to supply farmers in line with market needs,” he said in a social media post.
“There is hope that this new strategic plan will be able to smoothly support the production chain of rice from the fields to the markets. We have to come up with measures to help farmers get better rice yields, in terms of quality and quantity,” he added.
