Leading rice exporter Amru Rice (Cambodia) Co Ltd has unveiled plans to expand its contract farming into more provinces, focusing on organic and sustainable cultivation and fair trade.
Amru Rice CEO, Song Saran, said this week that 16 provinces are already involved in contract farming and this year, the company will set up a new rice dryer and rice mill facility in Mondulkiri province to support farmers there and in Ratanakiri, Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.
“The new expansion is around $5 million,” Saran told Kiripost.
Saran said the expansion is in response to the resilience of climate change and inclusiveness, in which poor people, especially women and minorities in highland areas, can engage.
“Amru Rice does contract farming because we want communities to have ownership in cultivating and respecting standards of climate change and management by the company,” Saran said.
The farming will involve buyers, farmers and downstream supermarket chains.
He added that in addition the aim is that Cambodia can sell carbon credit in the future in terms of rice cultivation by achieving carbon neutrality in the atmosphere by 2050.
