Lack of sweet deals turning Cambodia’s palm sugar industry sour

At the first light of day, Meng Chek deftly scales up a nearly 10m-high palm tree with a parang and a bunch of recycled plastic bottles hanging from his waist. He does this by using an old bamboo that has been secured to the tree trunk, and by using the dried offshoot stems as footholds. It takes him only a few minutes to reach the top.

When he reaches the top, Meng Chek cuts off the young palm stem and allows the sap to drip into the bottles that each contain a pol pal wood chip he had dropped in earlier. The chip, he explains, would bring out the sweetness in the juice. Half an hour later, Meng Chek comes down with the bottles half-full with sap.