Cambodia may harvest record paddy crop in 2013/14 main wet season, which began early December 2013
The total cereal output for 2013 is estimated at 10.3mn tonnes.
The preliminary official estimates put the 2013 main season paddy crop at a record level of 7.3mn tonnes, up 1.7 per cent on last year’s bumper output of the same season, according to FAO.
The increase has been attributed to an estimated 3.3 per cent expansion in plantings. However, heavy monsoon rains during September and October 2013 resulted in localised flooding across northern parts of the Mekong River Basin.
Planting of the 2013/14 secondary dry season (irrigated) paddy crop is also nearing completion. A preliminary official estimates, as of December-end 2013, indicated that 472,483 have been planted under rice crop, some 4.6 per cent below the area planted at the same period in 2012.
FAO added that the aggregate 2013/14 rice output, including the ongoing main and secondary seasons, is officially forecasted at a record level of 9.3mn tonnes, slightly above 2012’s level.
