Battambang Province
Battambang exhibits agricultural centralization: 10%+ of Cambodia's rice, 4.5M tonnes harvested in 2023—yet 22.8% rural poverty as millers capture surplus.
Battambang functions as Cambodia's agricultural heartland—the rice bowl that has defined the province's identity through successive occupations. The fertile plains along Tonle Sap Lake produce over 10% of Cambodia's wet-season rice output, with 33 operational rice mills processing harvests that in 2023 reached 4.5 million tonnes of rice and other crops—270,000 tonnes more than 2022. Cambodia's premium rice varieties grow here due to high soil fertility and elevation that competing provinces cannot match.
The province's agricultural dominance has made it a prize across centuries. Siam captured Battambang in 1794-1795, installing Khmer nobility as tributary governors required to pay annual tribute in rice. Vichy France ceded the province to Thailand in 1941 during Japanese occupation; it returned to Cambodia only in 1946 after WWII. Under Norodom Sihanouk from 1953 to 1970, Battambang solidified its status as the nation's rice capital. But this productivity concentration creates vulnerability: yields average just 2 tons per hectare with only 1% of fields fully irrigated, leaving harvests exposed to erratic monsoons and droughts.
By 2024, Battambang has diversified beyond pure agriculture: over 700 business enterprises including 16 factories now operate alongside traditional farming. Industrial output showed resilience in Q1 2024 as improved management practices supported SME growth. Yet rural poverty persists at 22.8%, with smallholder farmers exploited by rice millers and traders who control pricing. The province that feeds Cambodia remains structurally poor despite its productivity—surplus captured by intermediaries rather than producers.