Cambodia rice variety named world’s best

Cambodian rice variety Phka Rumduol, often called Phka Malis or Cambodia Jasmine Rice by rice millers and traders, was chosen as the “World’s Best Rice” during the Rice Traders World Rice Conference held in Hong Kong in November 2013.

Rice samples from several countries, including Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and the United States, were evaluated in several rounds based on raw (chalkiness, head rice, shape, and size) and cooked qualities (gloss, color, stickiness, flavor and texture).

This was not the first time Phka Rumduol was recognized as such. In a similar competition at Bali, Indonesia in 2012, the variety was also chosen as “World’s Best Rice.” It is now thus considered the ‘Pride of Cambodia.’

Phka Rumduol was developed through support from the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (1988-2001) and was officially released as a variety by the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) in 1999, the same year CARDI was founded.

With continuous efforts to disseminate the variety since then, Phka Rumduol was accepted as one of the ten rice varieties promoted by the Royal Government of Cambodia in late 2010. It is now widely grown in Cambodia.

Phka Rumduol typically yields 3.5–5 tons per hectare under rainfed lowland conditions. It has a long slender grain and a nice jasmine-type aroma, is not chalky, and has low amylose content (13.8% which makes it quite sticky when cooked. The milled rice is translucent and the cooked one soft-textured, unbroken, and flavorful.

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Phka Rumduol rice variety is the Pride of Cambodia

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