CHEA VANNAK
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| Workers loading paddy rice from motorized carts into a trader’s truck in Battambang. Many farmers are still being short-changed by brokers. KT/Mai Vireak |
It’s almost 10 in the morning in Battambang province’s Bavel district and the blazing sun would deter anyone from venturing too far from the cool comfort of their thatched huts in this rice-growing area.
But for many families whose livelihoods depend on rice farming, braving the almost unbearable heat is a must ‒ if they want to make ends meet in one of the worst rice seasons the country has seen.
Farmers in Bavel district ‒ one of the biggest rice-growing areas in Battambang province ‒ are reeling from the aftereffects of a prolonged drought that has resulted in falling paddy rice harvests.
They are also grappling with sharply plunging rice prices and, at the same time, struggling to pay back loans taken out from banks and microfinance institutions. The outlook is bleak.
Soun Sarith, a 55-year-old farmer with four children, is spreading out his just- harvested paddy rice on a large tarpaulin at the side of the road. The heat radiating from the tarmac on the road will help dry his rice quickly.
“A broker from the rice millers refused to buy my harvested rice because he said my price was too high. I’m waiting for other brokers to give me a better price. The prices offered are too low and I have to feed my family,” Mr. Sarith told Khmer Times.
“I heard the government has promised to keep the price of paddy rice at 840 riel ($0.21) a kilogram. In reality, however, the brokers for rice millers are offering us much lower than that,” he added.
Mr. Sarith said he was disappointed with rice prices this year, but he did not have much of a choice.
“With such low prices, I could leave my rice fields uncultivated and wait for prices to climb before planting again.
“But if I do that, what will my family survive on?” he asked.
“I could dry and store my paddy rice and wait for the highest bidder to buy my harvest. But we don’t have proper warehouses and the rain will spoil my stored rice.”
He said it was only a matter of time until he sold off his current rice stock.
“I cannot afford to wait any longer.”
On Monday, the Rural Development Bank (RDB) announced that rice millers in the country will now be able to access the government’s promised emergency loan of $20 million to purchase rice from farmers in a bid to prevent prices falling further.
RDB CEO Kao Thach said the government’s $20 million emergency loan had been transferred to the RDB yesterday after Prime Minister Hun Sen approved it on Friday.
“All rice millers in the country who have their own warehouses and silos to store rice can now apply for the emergency loan from the RDB,” Mr. Thach told reporters at a press conference.
Rice millers who do not have warehouses or silos, the RDB CEO said, will still be eligible for the loan from the bank provided they deposit their paddy rice to be milled at government warehouses, which in turn will be used as a collateral for the loan.
The government, Mr. Thach said, will provide loans to rice millers of up to 70 percent of the total amount required to buy paddy rice from farmers and would charge them an interest rate of eight percent a year.
Mr. Hun Sen yesterday called on all civil servants and private companies to help purchase rice from farmers across the country.
“After the RDB announcement, I observed that there were many government officials and traders and some companies purchasing rice from farmers. This contribution is important to help farmers,” said Mr. Hun Sen.
Mr. Thach told Khmer Times that so far that so far, after the RDB’s announcement, companies and government officials purchased between 300 and 400 tons of rice from government-run warehouses.
But Sim Chhoun, chief of the remote Svay Chhrom village in Bavel district, was less than optimistic with the RDB’s announcement.
“My village is really far and we have to see rice millers or their brokers offering the government price of 840 riel per kilo for our harvested paddy rice,” he told Khmer Times.
“These millers often go to other communes, bypassing us. After they have gone away, the rice traders will move in, offering us a price of about 720 riel ($0.18s) a kilo.
“Often we have no choice but to sell at this price.”
Horm Hy, a rice farmer in Bavel district’s Kbal Spean village, was facing a similar conundrum.
“I have loaded my harvested paddy rice in a motorized three-wheel cart and I am driving it from one commune to another looking for rice millers offering 840 riel per kilogram. I have not had any luck and the best I have been offered is 720 riel a kilogram. My family has to eat and I have no choice,” he said.
“I cannot store the rice because I don’t have a proper warehouse and the longer I keep it the quality will drop further. The worst case will be if no rice miller wants to buy my harvest. Then I’ll be in big trouble,” added Mr. Hy.
A rice trader calling himself Tes Ra, however, had a different perspective of the current predicament faced by rice farmers.
Standing near a big truck where workers were loading paddy rice from motorized three-wheel carts, he told Khmer Times that he bought rice from farmers at a price that he could sell to the millers.
“If we buy at a high price, we are not sure if we can sell it to the millers. It depends on the market price, which we have to follow,” said Mr. Ra.
Mr. Ra blamed farmers for not adhering to industry standards and trying to sell broken paddy rice to millers. He said this made it difficult for rice millers to offer higher prices to farmers.
Thov Vuthy, the managing director of Phov Thov Rice Miller in Bavel district’s Bovil II village, said his mill had a limited capacity and he could not purchase large quantities of paddy rice from farmers.
“Don’t get me wrong. We want to help out the farmers but we have limited capacity. There is only so much paddy rice we can buy with our limited funds,” he explained.
In a recent report, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) said rice mills in the country should have farmers under contract to provide consistent rice quality and aim for near 100 percent capacity utilization at the mill.
“It is clear that ensuring high quality and reliable supply form the basis for increased trade,” said the IFC report.
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