MORE than 1,400 farming families in Svay Rieng province have begun harvesting their wet-season rice crops nearly two months ahead of time, while the rest of the province’s farmers are only beginning to transplant their rice seedlings.

The families are the beneficiaries of high-yield, fast-growing rice varieties granted by a development project run by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the European Union.

Kong Voeun, 39, a farmer from Romeas Hek district’s Doung commune and recipient of rice seeds and chemical fertilisers under the FAO-EU project, said the new rice provided a much higher yield than traditional varieties.

“I have never been received 5 tonnes per hectare of rice field,” he said, whereas previous harvests normally came in at between 2 and 3 tonnes per hectare.