Original report from Phnom Penh
12 March 2008
Khmer audio aired March 12 (1.43MB) - Listen (MP3)
Improved techniques that have led to increased mango yields are driving market prices down, and vendors said ahead of mango season they were struggling to make a profit.
Mango growers have been able to produce two or three seasons' worth of mangos in a single year, and that has raised the number of mangos in the markets over the past few years.
Heng Hun, 53, has more than 400 mango trees on a one-hectare farm in Kandal province.
"We are very worried, because we have spent a lot of time to grow and protect our mangos, but if there's no market, we will not have income and will end up living in hard conditions," he said.
Cambodia still lacks the means to export mangos abroad to alleviate the influx on local markets, which drives prices down, officials said.
"Now it is true that there are a lot of mangos, because this is the season of mangos," said Hean Van Horn, deputy director of the Department of Agronomy in the Ministry of Agriculture. "But for the reason why the price of mango is decreasing, the ministry is studying the problem, and we are trying to find a way to export mangos abroad, especially to markets in Japan and Korea, where they import all their mangos from Asia."
No comments:
Post a Comment