SOURCE: Terry Friel, Khmer Times
In an unusual twist for one of the world’s largest rice-producing countries, Battambang farmer Prourn Sav has switched paddy for pineapples.
“Pineapple prices are a bit lower this year, but they still make more money than rice,” says the 45-year-old farmer, standing in a field of ripening pineapples in Moung Russei District, 45 kilometres southeast of Battambang city.
“I decided to change from rice to pineapples to improve my life.
“Pineapples from our district are famous for their delicious and sweet flavour.
“People love coming here to buy them.”
Last year, Cambodia ranked as the 46th largest pineapple producer in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with an estimated production of 26,000 tonnes.
That figure is expected to pass 28,000 tonnes by 2026.
Cambodia’s pineapple production has been steadily growing by about 1.6 percent a year for the past decade.
About 500 households in Moung Russei’s Mangkol commune have switched to pineapples from rice, according to District Governor Tep Han.
“Farmers are converting their rice fields to pineapples,” he said.
“Pineapples now cover about 705 hectares.
“Farmers plant about 60,000 seedlings per hectare and with proper care, they can harvest about 50,000 fruits per hectare.”
That equates to more than 35 million pineapples a year in Mangkol.
Pineapples from the district are sold as far away as Siem Reap, about 215 km away, and Phnom Penh, 250 km to the southeast.
Pineapples are roughly twice as profitable as rice, with a transaction-cost ratio of 0.5 compared with 0.2.
And pineapple crops yield about 50-80 tonnes per hectare compared with 3.5 tonnes for rice.
“The (Cambodian pineapple) industry is still small, but it’s getting bigger,” Pha Sreynea, of Sweet Royal Pineapple, told Khmer Times yesterday.
“People are still learning about it.
“But once one family switches to pineapple from rice, the other families in the commune see the benefits and do the same thing.
“Prices are down to about 500 riels ($0.12) per fruit this year (at the farm gate).
“But we expect that to pick up later this year.
“Pineapples are a very hardy crop and begin yielding fruits relatively quickly.”
IndexBox, a leading international research house, also said it expected the sector to continue growing this year and next.
“In general, pineapple consumption in the Cambodian market over the past 10 years or so indicates a remarkable increase,” it said in a recent report.