The drought has hit rice farmers in Cambodia, like other Southeast Asian countries, where farmers in the villages of Siem Reap province suffer the lack of rain in its season, in addition to the drought of the river, which led to the damage of the rice crop in their fields and nothing is of their crop. Several farmers had to buy water at a high price from the surrounding areas, remove damaged rice and cultivate fragile rice to avoid the great material losses they incurred. The chief of Prey Chrouk village urged the government and the associations to help the farmers in the village to secure water and to start a project to make the river deeper to obtain water in the dry seasons.
In an interview with A24, Mr. Toeur – Chief of Prey Chrouk Village said that, It hasn’t rained for almost 4 months, but yesterday before you arrived, it rained a little bit. More than 70% of our rice field was burned in these 4 months without rain. In our village there are 155 families, 150 families of them are farmers. There are 350 hectares of farming land in our village. 250 hectare of rice fields were destroyed and 100 hectares can survive if it rains. Our village has no water system, we do the rice field depending on the sky. This river is dry during the hot season because it is not deep enough, and the villagers who live here use this river for agriculture. Right now, we decided to restructure this river, to make it deeper, so it could contain water for our village to use in the future. So, my people can have water during the hot season and can use it for their rice field in a case like nowadays.“I appeal to philanthropists, NGO, and other associations, to please come to help our village which has no water for living, please come to help us by making this river deeper. Please come to help us. Thanks”
In an interview with A24, Mr. HeuyTinh -Farmer, said “I have 7 hectares of rice fields and it was 100% destroyed. I pay for villagers and for the machine to do my rice fields and I pay too much for fertilizers.” In an interview with A24, a Farmer said, “At the beginning it didn’t rain, but we have to harvest the rice fields because it is our tradition. Usually this is the rainy season. Today I have to redo it again because my plantation was burned, so I have to destroy it by myself. I will keep some of my rice fields, maybe if it rains they will survive”
In an interview with A24, a Farmer said, “I lost a lot of my money in this season, I cannot do it by myself. I have to pay for the villagers and hire the machinery to prepare the land. I have to pay for many things to do my rice field.”
In an interview with A24, an old woman said, “I am facing a big problem now because there is no rain, it is really hot. I have 4 hectares, all of them were destroyed completely. I lost around 5 million riels (1200$). I lost money on fertilizer too.”
In an interview with A24, Mr. Toeung Teang -Farmer and Rice Buyer said that, “Last year, I got a little rice but I couldn’t sell it at a good price, but for this year our rice field was dry because of no rain, and the price is cheap, very cheap. It is cheaper than bran. I want to break it into a bran to feed the pigs.”
In an interview with A24, Mr. ToeungTeang – Farmer and Rice Buyer said, “For this year, there are fewer farmers who can get some yield from their rice field. They can get it because they bought water from other villages and pumped water for their rice field. It is very expensive, but we have to buy it to get some yield back. We pay 75$/hectare. This year is an unlucky year for us as farmers.”
Source: A24 News Agency