Hun Sen said the country has a free market economic system and the private sector has the right to determine prices of goods, adding that the government could only appeal to people to set an affordable price.
President of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community Theng Savoeun said farmers want the government to set a fixed price for rice so as to sustain their lives.
He suggested that the government should consider providing low-interest loans for farmers, build the needed infrastructure, and offer technical assistance to improve rice quality and find markets.
Cambodia is harvesting over 2 million ha of rice out of the total 2.7 million ha this year, with an output of over 3 tons per ha. The country plans to ship 600,000 tons of rice and over 2 million tons of unhusked rice to Vietnam.
One day after the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced the 2019 – 2023 agriculture development strategy, Hun Sen called on foreign firms to invest in farm produce processing in Cambodia.
