Cambodia

Country information

Cambodia Tall Koh Rong (KAT10) (Image: J. Oliver)

Cambodia is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, VietNam and Laos. In Cambodia, there is no large-scale commercial cultivation of coconut palms or coconut industry. Cambodia is not a country member of COGENT, although Coconut varieties from Cambodia are conserved in COGENT member countries.

regular income. A preliminary survey conducted in 2004 showed that there were at least 12 million coconut palms in Cambodia (Vanhan 2007). In late 2001, coconut beetle (B. longissima) was recorded as a new pest in Cambodia. The first infestations were recorded in an area near the Vietnamese border, especially in young coconut plantations. Within two years it had spread over the whole country. This new threat caused significant damage to coconut trees (on average 74% of coconut palms were attacked, resulting in 21% mortality). To combat this problem, the Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement (DAALI) of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries took actions (phytosanitary measures, pest outbreak intervention via insecticide application and extension work on control measures) to control the spread of the pest. Unfortunately, the beetle is still established and inflicting significant damage in Cambodia.

In 1969, just before the outbreak of the Cambodian civil war, almost 1300 seednuts were collected and imported into Côte d’Ivoire by a French agronomist, CE Briolle. Four closely related coconut varieties of ‘Cambodia Tall’ from the localities of Ream, Sre Cham, Battambang and Koh Rong were collected either from plantations or directly from local markets.

More info: Conserved coconut germplasm from Cambodia (2.8MB)