PHNOM PENH, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had granted licenses to 20 investment projects in rubber plantations and processing plants with the total investment cost of 674 million U.S. dollars, according to a government report on Thursday.

It showed a 117 percent rise in the rubber investment last year from only 311 million U.S. dollars with 15 projects in a year earlier, said the report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

The countries invested in the sector last year are Vietnam--14 projects with the investment of 630 million U.S. dollars, Australia--2 projects with 25 million U.S. dollars, and Cambodia-- 4 projects with 19 million U.S. dollars.

Rubber is one of the top priority cash crops for Cambodia. In the future, the government expects that the crop will become the second leading income earner in agricultural sector after rice paddy.

Last year, the country had exported 46,730 tons of rubber latex, an increase of 55 percent from 30,095 tons in a year earlier, according to the statistics of the Commerce Ministry on Monday.

The country earned the total revenues of 201 million U.S. dollars last year, up 131 percent from 87 million U.S. dollars in a year earlier, it said.

Currently, the country has grown about 210,000 hectares of rubber plantations, most of them are young crops, which have not yet yielded, according to the statistics of the Agriculture Ministry's Rubber Department.

Vietnam is the leading country investing in rubber plantations in Cambodia with up to 100,000 hectares of concessional land.