Drought Puts Kampong Speu Rice Crops at Risk
Damage is being caused in Samraong Tong and Kong Pisei districts, provincial governor Vei Samnang said in a Facebook post on Aug. 11. Photo: Vei Samnang / Facebook
- By Chhum Chantha
- August 16, 2023 5:35 PM
PHNOM PENH – Droughts have affected about 5,000 hectares of rice crops in Kampong Speu province for the past 20 days after floods damaged thousands of rice fields in 11 provinces earlier this month.
Damage is being caused in Samraong Tong and Kong Pisei districts, provincial governor Vei Samnang said in a Facebook post on Aug. 11.
The governor called on provincial departments and local authorities to save the remaining rice.
Farmers whose crops were at risk were encouraged to tell the local authority as soon as possible to get support.
“In July, floods affected Phnom Sruoch, Basedth, and Aoral districts. However, Samraong Tong and Kong Pisei districts are now damaged by the ongoing droughts, affecting nearly 5,000 hectares of rice fields which require immediate saving,” the post says.
Chheang Tola, the director of the provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries said on Aug. 15 that the rice in the fields has not been watered for 20 days, and the plants are being damaged constantly.
The director had assigned experts to evaluate and seek water resources for the plantations.
“Some rice is getting damaged while we are evaluating the drought locations. It’s hard to save if it doesn’t rain at all,” Tola said.
The province planned to grow rainy-season rice on 117,657 hectares and non-rice crops on 675 hectares.
Chan Youttha, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology’s spokesperson, said the drought might last until the end of the year due to the influence of the El Nino phenomenon, which causes droughts and heatwaves.
In the meantime, the ministry is releasing stored water to save the crops.
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Meng Seavmey for Cambodianess.
