Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Season Returns
Farmers in Kampong Speu are starting to harvest palm juice to make prestige Kampong Speu palm sugar. Photo: Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Association
- By Chhum Chantha
- December 15, 2023 3:10 PM
PHNOM PENH – Farmers in Kampong Speu are starting to harvest palm juice to make prestige Kampong Speu palm sugar.
The season started in December and ends in May. During this period, the palm tree has more flowers and rain is not too heavy to affect the quality of palm juice while farmers take a break from their other activities.
Vy Veasna, assistant of Kampong Speu palm sugar community, said good quality sugar could be produced from December to March during which palm tree yields abundant and high-quality sugar due to favorable weather.
The quality then gradually declined due to rains from mid-March, he said.
“It can be called Kampong Speu palm sugar only when it’s harvested from December to May,” Veasna said.
Farmers return to farming at the end of May when the rainy season starts and thunder makes it dangerous for farmers to climb the trees.
“Rain affects the quality of sugar, so we need set a specific season,” he said.
Vit Sokea and Chhin Chhon, palm sugar makers of Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Association, said they were happy that the approaching season will give them a chance to earn extra income.
Making palm sugar is their second occupations and the one that can’t be missed after farming. Each can produce about 1 to 2 tonnes of palm sugar during the season.
Kampong Speu palm sugar was registered as having Geographical Indication status in 2010. The association comprises 150 families and 3,600 trees with each family earning between $1,700 and $3,800 per season.
The association produced over 100 tonnes of palm sugar powder for export and 30 tonnes for the local market this year.
Sugar powder costs 7,000 riel in 2022 and about 7,300 riel in 2023. Separately, for normal sugar in 2022, the price was 6,500 riel and up to 7,000 riel this year. Most Kampong Speu palm sugar is exported to the European Union and China.
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this article was translated by Nhor Sokhoeurn for Cambodianess.
