Mong Reththy, chairman of Mong Reththy Group, has called on Cambodians – especially those involved in animal feed processing – to increase their use of locally-sourced raw materials. This is to support farmers who are currently facing market difficulties due to Thailand’s unilateral closure of the land border with Cambodia during the harvest season of agro-industrial crops.
Reththy, also chairman of the 3rd Commission of the Senate, shared his encouragement during a presentation on the topic “The Shift from Traditional to Modern Agro-Processing Agriculture” at the Business and Innovation Forum, held in Phnom Penh on July 2.
He urged animal feed manufacturers to increase the use of local raw materials such as cassava, corn and other agricultural products.
Additionally, he advised the public to trust the government’s handling of the Cambodia–Thailand border crisis. He reassured the attendees that even without access to Thai markets, Cambodia can still access other markets and need not worry, as the country now has numerous domestic animal feed processing factories.
“I urge all stakeholders to make strong efforts to find ways to convert raw materials into animal feed especially cassava, corn, broken rice and lower-quality paddy rice. At the very least, this will significantly reduce the burden on our farmers. As for the Cambodia–Thailand border issue… Vietnam is buying a lot of cassava, corn, and other agricultural products from us, so we should not be overly concerned,” he said.
He noted that Cambodians should not be overly worried because there are now many animal feed processing factories in the Kingdom, including his own. In the past, some agricultural exports earned less than 300 riels per kilogramme, but animal feed purchases could cost more than 500 riels per kilogramme.
At the same time, he also highlighted the importance of cooperation in supporting the government during this challenging time.
According to the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), cassava is cultivated on over 840,000 hectares of Cambodian farmland each year, yielding approximately 15 million tonnes of fresh produce with an estimated economic value of about $1.255 billion in 2024. Red corn is grown on more than 280,000 hectares, producing around 1 million tonnes of fresh output with an estimated value of more than $200 million. Cassava is typically planted in early March and harvested from July onward each year. Red corn is planted starting in April and harvested beginning in July.
