Cambodia's royal cows performed an ancient ceremony yesterday, predicting the country would have a "quite good" rice harvest this year, despite global concerns over supplies of the grain.
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the country’s Royal Plowing ceremony in a park outside the royal palace. Thousands of people watched on as royal astrologers observed what the cows ate to signal the coming year’s harvests.
After a symbolic plowing of a portion of the park’s field, a pair of royal cows were led to seven dishes — rice, corn, beans, sesame, grass, water and alcohol — laid out on trays.
PHOTO:AFP
“Based on what the royal cows ate, the rice harvest will be quite good,” chief astrologer Kang Ken declared before the crowd of onlookers.
He also said the corn harvest would be good, but the bean crop would be average.
The traditional ceremony marks the start of the planting season in the kingdom.
Farmers who joined the ceremony hailed the prediction.
“This means that we will not face rice shortages in the coming year,” said 58-year-old Kao Tob, a rice farmer in Kampong Chhnang, some 90km northwest of Phnom Penh.
Even if the harvest is strong, Cambodians face soaring food prices. Inflation reached double digits late last year and now hovers around 11 percent.
Good-grade rice — Cambodia’s staple food — has nearly doubled in price this year.
Rice now costs nearly US$0.90 per kilogram, deepening the poverty of the one-third of the population who live on less than US$0.50 a day.
World rice prices have soared this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertilizer costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations and price speculation.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind