Members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces assist in harvesting Pailin Longan at the Pechenda Fruit Production farm in early February. Pechenda Ltd.
A labour shortage during the harvest season has led to the loss of over 50% of the early 2025 Pailin longan yield, while the price of the sweet fruit has dropped more than 10% in the past year.
Phot Saphanborey, owner of Pechenda Fruit Production PFP Co., Ltd, told The Post that since the current harvest season began at the beginning of January, farmers and plantation owners have faced major challenges finding agricultural workers to harvest their fruit.
He believed that a drop in the 2024 yield led many workers to migrate to Thailand in search of employment.
He warned that the shortage of skilled workers has cause the yield in parts of Battambang province to fall by over than 50%. Local authorities, including the armed forces, have stepped into help with the harvest.
Saphanborey explained that longans must be harvested at a specific time. Because of expectations of early-season demand, many growers had planned to harvest as much as possible at the start of the year.
“The current issue is that farmers have concentrated the yield so many trees to mature at the same time, which has caused many problems during the early harvest season,” he said.
“As a member of the Cambodia Pailin Longan Association, we are working hard to find solutions and strategies to prevent further issues in the future,” he added.
He noted that as there was no harvest to collect in August and September 2024, many workers migrated to Thailand.
“Pechenda Fruit Production has received assistance from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who visited our production site and encouraged us to increase exports of fresh longan to China,” he said.
He also warned that in early 2025, the price of the fruit had dropped by approximately 10% compared to the same period in 2024.
Saphanborey said plans to export fresh longan to China were going ahead, but emphasised the need for cooperation from all stakeholders in planning the export process.
Suos Siyat, president of the Pailin Longan Agricultural Production Cooperative, recently noted that farmers who signed buy-sell contracts before the harvest season would be paid 3,500 riel per kilogramme in early February.
A report from the Ministry of Commerce revealed that, in the first 11 months of 2024, Cambodia earned nearly $28 million fresh Pailin longan exports, an increase of more than 50% compared to the same period in 2023, which earned around $18 million.
