Environment and land
Insecticide credit system hurts farmers
Insecticide prices in Myanmar are much higher than they should be, because sellers are using a credit system, an official has said, with some farmers paying three or four times the market price to keep pests away from their crops. U Aung Kyaw Oo, director of ...
HCM City to use high-tech method to trace pork origins
HCM City plans to launch a pilot programme on using technology to control and trace the origin of pork in an effort to ensure consumer health and benefits. Dao Ha Trung, chairman of the HCM City High Technology Association, said consumers can check the product origin ...
Farmers choose solar farm over endangered bird
When given a choice between renewable energy and wildlife conservation, people in Samut Sakhon have opted for a solar farm for financial reasons. Tractors and trucks loaded with soil were seen busily working in a field yesterday to fill a salt pan in Ban Khok ...
Cambodia, Vietnam to build market on border
The Vietnamese government on 27 July agreed in principle to provide a grant of $2 million to Cambodia to build a model market aimed at boosting cross-border trade between the two countries, officials at Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce said. The market will be constructed on 1.5 ...
SEZs lure 39 projects worth B7bn
Investment is starting to flow into the government’s planned special economic zones with 39 projects worth 7.2 billion baht applying for promotional privileges from the Board of Investment. The Special Economic Zone Policy Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, on 27 July acknowledged the investment ...
Closed Mae Sot zinc mine to become forest
Padaeng Industry closed its zinc mine in Mae Sot last month because of the depletion of ore reserves. Managing director Francis Vanbellen said on 27 July that PDI’s mine concluded its 32 years of sustainable operations after producing its last 140,000 tonnes of zinc-silicate ore this ...
Việt Nam records $1.8b trade surplus YTD
The country posted a trade surplus of nearly US$1.8 billion in the first seven months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office. GSO experts attributed the surplus to a rise in export values, while import revenues declined. The nation’s export turnover during the period ...
River of change: hydropower dams and the Mekong River’s uncertain future
From the snowy plateaus of Tibet to the mountain gorges of China’s Yunnan province and beyond to the jungled borders of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and down to the plains of Cambodia and paddy fields of Vietnam – the Mekong River is of crucial importance to ...
Grain drain, Laos' sand mining damaging the Mekong
Grain by grain, truckload by truckload, Laos’ section of the Mekong river is being dredged of sand to make cement—a commodity being devoured by a Chinese-led building boom in the capital. But the hollowing out of the riverbed is also damaging a vital waterway that feeds ...
As clouds head for the poles, time to prepare for food and water shocks
A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet’s food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern ...
