TWPC Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd plans to set up a $10.4 million cassava processing plant about 10km south of the Thai border in Oddar Meanchey province, which is expected to bring a major windfall for local farmers.

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) revealed in a June 19 notice that it has approved a final registration certificate for the proposed cassava project, noting that the venture would create an estimated 99 jobs and be located in Trapaing Tav commune’s O’Sramor village in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng district.

Four officers for TWPC Investment are listed in the Ministry of Commerce’s business registry, all of whom have postal registered office addresses in Bangkok, Thailand. They are “Chalermkeit Chalermpronkit”, “Ren Hua Ho”, “Orn-A-Nong Witchucharn” and “Umnad Sukprasongphol” – the last of whom is senior.

Oddar Meanchey provincial deputy governor Di Rado told The Post that the northern province has recently drawn in a series of fresh investment projects, which he credited to political stability, new infrastructure and improvements in the legal system.

The cassava processing facility will greatly benefit the community by generating jobs and raising farmer incomes, he claimed.

“Processing plants in the province will lessen farmers’ and investors’ concerns about a lack of a market or lower prices being offered by dealers,” he said, declaring: “We in authority sincerely desire more such investments.”

Without providing concrete figures, Oddar Meanchey provincial Department of Commerce director Proeung Brasith confirmed that a considerable share of the province’s cassava crop is shipped to Thailand and Vietnam via middlemen, and that a lack of local processing facilities has caused prices to vary in response to purchase orders from overseas buyers.

Farmers’ per-kilogramme selling rates for wet and dried cassava now average 230 riel (5.6 US cents) and 800 riel ($0.19), respectively, up from 220 riel and 600 riel at the beginning of the year, he said.

“Not only would more local processing facilities help farmers receive higher prices, they’d also motivate them as well as investors to grow more crops,” Brasith suggested.https://phnompenhpost.com/business/104m-cassava-plant-set-oddar-meanchey