Sipping tea under a whirring fan at a Phnom Penh shophouse, I watched the news report flash on screen: Khmer farmers up in Mondulkiri are busy harvesting their paddies. The OM 5451 rice variety is fetching a decent price this season, with traders buying at 820 to 880 riel per kilo, while wet rice goes for 740 to 780 riel. Farmers say it is a bit higher than last year, and as long as these prices hold up, families can finally breathe a little easier.
Yet, alongside the relief, there is plenty of underlying worry. Local media reported that unpredictable rains early in the year and an unusually long dry season left the fields parched, stunting the crop growth. Farmers ran the numbers: last year they pulled in about 6 tonnes per hectare, but this time around, yields have plunged by nearly 40 percent down to just 3.2 tonnes. Fertilizer and tractor rental costs stay the same, so if prices take a dip, all that hard work goes down the drain.
According to provincial agriculture figures, harvesting was in full swing across Mondulkiri by mid-September, with tens of thousands of tonnes of early rice already brought in. Chatting over tea with neighbors, the talk always comes back to how tough it is to live at the mercy of the weather. When the prices are finally good, the harvest falls short—it just goes to show how carefully you have to budget life day by day.
