Sugarcane a ‘huge potential for farmers’
C A MBODI A’S t h re e major suga r companies produced 120,126 tonnes of raw sugar in t he f irst nine months of t his year, said a Ministr y of Industr y and Handicraft report.
It said Rui Feng (Cambodia) International Co Ltd produced 56,664 tonnes, Yel low Field (Cambodia) International Ltd (51,420 tonnes) and Koh Kong Sugar Industr y Co Ltd (12,042 tonnes). Phnom Penh Sugar Co Ltd did not provide figures, said the report.
The report does not provide last yea r’s f ig ures for compa r ison. However, Ca mbodia’s five major sugar producers exported just four per cent of t he c ou nt r y ’s pl a n ned ref ined sugar capacit y to t he internationa l market in 2016 or just 80,000 tonnes, said a pre v iou s r epor t f rom t he ministr y.
It s of f ic ia l s cou ld not be re ache d for c om ment on Monday.
Mi n i s t r y of Ag r ic u lt u r e, Forestry and Fisheries spokesman Srey Vuthy said the min- istr y is now tr ying to persuade fa r mers to g row suga rca ne. This is because the sector has a mple room for g row t h a s suga r compa n ies push for higher y ields.
He s a i d t he s u g a r c a ne industr y has huge potent ia l for farmers to boost their cultivation to meet the industr y’s production requirements.
“The suga rca ne i ndust r y has huge potential for farmers. If they can produce suga rc a ne a s needed by t he industr y, it will not only bring t hem much prof it but a lso p r o mot e growth.
“We are now working with farmers and connecting them wit h factor ies t hrough cont r ac t f a r mi ng , wh ich w i l l ensure the right price and the market for them.
“If we can put our plan into act ion successf u l ly, suga rcane cultivation will increase and factories will be able to r un a f ull production line. It will bring huge prof its for a ll parties,” Vuthy said.
The ministr y’s figures show t h a t f a m i l i e s c u l t i v a t e d o u r e c o n o m i c 19,717ha of suga rc a ne la st year – an 11 per cent decrease from 2016. Yield also fell by 15 per cent to 629,320 tonnes.