Cambodian corn production saw slow development last year with crop yields increasing a mere two per cent on 2017 to 715,000 tonnes, remaining far short of Cambodia’s peak in 2012 when production reached nearly one million tonnes.

According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures – endorsed by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon – Cambodian corn production amounted to 715,000 tonnes last year, up from 700,000 tonnes in 2017.

However, the USDA data highlighted a big gap compared to Cambodia’s peak in 2012 when corn production amounted to 951,000 tonnes, the highest since records began in 1960.

Sakhon said on Sunday that the Kingdom’s corn production is slowed by the fact that the crop is still grown on smaller scale family farms, while market prices fluctuate annually due to a lack of modernisation of growing and drying methods.

While corn is used mainly for feed-processing production, the minister said the old drying method of corn used by farmers cannot adequately respond to market demand.

“We hope that in the future our government will be able to subsidise [corn] to help farmers and agricultural communities to solve the issue of warehouses and drying silos so that demand can be stabilised and the price increased,” he said.http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-corn-production-saw-slow-development-2018