Villagers in Kampong Speu protesting against land-grabbing and forced eviction by Ly Yong Phat's company (Photo: Heng Reaksmey, VOA)August 16, 2010
ABC Radio Australia
Cambodia's sugar industry is undergoing a revival but there is a bitter undercurrent to what would otherwise be a great success story. Hundreds of farmers have been forced off their land to make way for sugarcane plantations, which are controlled by foreign firms and take advantage of Cambodia's tax exemptions in Europe. An investigation by Radio Australia has found the EU trade initiatives designed to help least-developed-countries are instead fuelling evictions at gunpoint in rural Cambodia. Rights groups worry the abuses will only continue as the sugar industry- and foreign incentives - grow.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Dr Peter Baron, Executive Director of the International Sugar Organisation; Khan Samban is the head of the Directorate of Agri-Business at Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture; Chuon Chhuon, farmer in Amleang commune, Kampong Speu province; David Pred, country director of Bridges Across Borders; Rafael Dochao Moreno, Charge d'Affairs of the EU Delegation to Cambodia
COCHRANE: Cambodia's sugar industry came to an abrupt halt in 1970 when first General Lon Nol and then the Khmer Rouge took over the country.
Now, with the help of foreign money and EU trade incentives, the sugar industry is making a comeback.
In January, Prime Minister Hun Sen proudly opened a new refinery in the country's south-west and in June, the first shipment of Cambodian sugar in four decades was exported to Britain.
But there's a dark side to this economic success story.
[SFX - BURNING / SHOUTING]
That's the sound of farmers wailing as their homes are burned down by police and soldiers to make way for a sugar plantation in the country's north west.
Please click here to read more...
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Dr Peter Baron, Executive Director of the International Sugar Organisation; Khan Samban is the head of the Directorate of Agri-Business at Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture; Chuon Chhuon, farmer in Amleang commune, Kampong Speu province; David Pred, country director of Bridges Across Borders; Rafael Dochao Moreno, Charge d'Affairs of the EU Delegation to Cambodia
COCHRANE: Cambodia's sugar industry came to an abrupt halt in 1970 when first General Lon Nol and then the Khmer Rouge took over the country.
Now, with the help of foreign money and EU trade incentives, the sugar industry is making a comeback.
In January, Prime Minister Hun Sen proudly opened a new refinery in the country's south-west and in June, the first shipment of Cambodian sugar in four decades was exported to Britain.
But there's a dark side to this economic success story.
[SFX - BURNING / SHOUTING]
That's the sound of farmers wailing as their homes are burned down by police and soldiers to make way for a sugar plantation in the country's north west.
Please click here to read more...
No comments:
Post a Comment