Heat wave to cut Cambodia rice harvest : FAO

Extreme heat due to lack of rains in the recent past threatens to cut rice harvest in Cambodia to levels unseen since 2006, FAO said. According to United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, production of rice is likely to fall 22 percent to 5.9 million unmilled tonnes this year compared with 7.8 million tonnes of paddy farmed in 2009. In a report the FAO said prospects for the season have been marred by drought conditions, which have been affecting the greater Mekong sub-region since late last year. Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture enterprise said drought conditions were affecting only some parts of the country. The important thing is that farmers choose to grow rice from good seedlings and ensure proper use of fertiliser, it added. Cambodia’s department of Meteorology said late rains could reverse the drought. “We expect rain levels to be close to last year from the middle to the end of the rainy season, and rain will still fall until November,” it said in a forecast.