A 2013 report from the World Bank — Where have all the poor gone? — showed that the single factor that lifted more Cambodians out of poverty than anything else, over the last decade, was a global increase in the price of rice.
The Editorial Board
Using Frozen Aromatic Rice to Reduce Cambodian Poverty
Cambodia does indeed have the opportunity to increase the price of rice independently. Its Phka Rumduol has won “The World’s Best Rice” award ever since it first competed in 2012 — and unprecedented three years in a row.