The State of Vietnam indirectly kills Khmer Krom farmers

April 06,2006
Source: KKM writer

According to the local Vietnamese media reported this week, now is the season of major rice harvest in Vietnam and rice farmers are facing the falling price of rice in Vietnam, in contrast to the international pricing of rice has been on the rise this year so far.

Kampuchea Krom is the "bread baskets" of Vietnam's rice production. While the 2005 statistics indicated Vietnam exported more than 5 millions tons of rice which was worth $1.4 billions US, the nation farmers are still struggling to make ends meet due to low price of rice during harvesting seasions.

Per Khmer Krom's impact by low price scheme in Vietnam, the Khmer Krom are mostly farmers and taken a big hit by the State's manipulated and unprotected pricing. Many Khmer Krom farmers could not make enough funds to repay their loans, even though they received high yield from their rice harvest. As a result, many Khmer Krom farming families ended up selling their farmlands and abandoned their traditional employment to seek odd jobs in the Vietnamese urban centers.

This trend is very catrastrophic to the Khmer Krom's way of life and their agricultural business.