On August 3 the Tbong Khmum Provincial Administration provided over 56 tonnes of rice seed to 752 households whose 542ha of rice fields in total were damaged due to flash floods this year in Ponhea Kraek district.
Provincial governor Cheam Chan Sophorn said on August 3 that the rice seed donation was made by Prime Minister Hun Sen after he instructed the district administration to cooperate with the provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to inspect and evaluate the impact of the flooding on the farmers’ rice fields.
In total, there were 542.58ha of rice fields owned by 752 households in Dauntei commune that were affected and the farmers there needed 56,550 kg of seeds to replant.
He said that after receiving the report he put in a request to the Food Reserve Management Committee of Cambodia and he got approval to provide rice seed to the farmers through the donation by Hun Sen.
District governor Ly Sophealin told The Post on August 3 that the distribution of rice seed was necessary due to the heavy rains that had caused flooding and damaged many hectares of the local people’s rice fields.
He added that some people had sowed two or three times, but each time their crops were damaged, so the provision of seed was just in time for these farmers who needed to sow their fields again right away.
"People were happy when they received the rice seed. They are getting help from the authorities, which shows they care about the people, especially the provincial leaders. Providing rice seed to assist after the flooding and to ease their expenses after Covid-19 will make a big difference because they have been struggling for a while now," he said.
Provincial agriculture department director Heng Piseth told The Post on August 3 that the continuous rains in recent weeks were not only in Ponhea Kraek, but also in the provincial town and O’Reang-ou district.
Piseth said that in the town and districts, they had begun to assess the impact of the heavy rains to provide rice seed to the people who needed to replant right away, because at this point it's still not too late for them to salvage the season.
According to the provincial administration, during this year's rainy season a series of heavy rains started at the beginning of May and together with the water flowing from higher elevations, this caused some farmers' newly planted rice to be wiped out several times, while people were also affected by the Covid-29 crisis at the same time leading some farmers to be severely short of rice seed varieties to plant when the waters receded.
