Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recently said that it will select pilot communities in Kampong Cham Province and Kampong Thong Province respectively to implement the "Modern Agricultural Community" program. The program focuses on the cultivation of rice, cashew nuts, pepper and other crops, promotes the standardization and technology of agricultural production, and helps communities build marketing networks. Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has also signed a memorandum of understanding with relevant commercial banks to provide a total of US$5 million in unsecured low-interest loans to pilot farming communities.
Cambodia's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr. Dundina, said that the vision of the company is to build a highly integrated modern agricultural community, establish an agricultural enterprise, and allow the agricultural community to participate in the market competition at the level of quantity, quality and quality, and meet the market demand in a sustainable way. "Community members have access to technical support, modern production facilities, low-interest loans, business consulting, etc., and through economies of scale, farmers' production costs will be reduced and community profits will increase. ”
The Sampo Meanchey Agricultural Cooperative in Kampong Cham province is one of the pilot projects. According to an order from a local agricultural company, the cooperative will grow vegetables on a 13-hectare plot of land in the early stage. At present, the "Modern Agricultural Community" program has invested about $700,000 in the cooperative, mainly from funds from the agricultural cooperative and loans from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia. Cheng Tong, chairman of the board of directors of the Sanpo Mianji Agricultural Cooperative, said that the "modern agricultural community" program is a major benefit for local farmers, with both stable buyers and access to preferential loans, "and the success of the program depends on the support of the first class and a mature market".
Agriculture is one of the pillar industries of Cambodia's economy, accounting for about 22% of Cambodia's GDP in 2023. More than half of Cambodian households derive their main income from agriculture. Cambodia proposed that it will strive to achieve an output of 37.21 million tons of various crops and an export volume of 10.24 million tons of crops in 2024. Over the years, Cambodia** has been working hard to modernize its agriculture in order to improve the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of its agriculture. In September 2022, Cambodia's draft National Agricultural Development Policy (2022-2030) was adopted. The policy includes the analysis of the agricultural development situation, the target vision, the implementation strategy, etc., and is the overall plan for Cambodia's agricultural modernization.
With the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Cambodia** has been conducting annual agricultural surveys and agricultural censuses to collect the latest data on agricultural development and provide scientific reference for the formulation of agricultural policies. Cambodia** said it would make every effort to promote the transformation of agriculture from labour-intensive to technology-intensive, including promoting the transformation of family farming to high-standard, competitive, and technology-oriented agriculture. In November 2023, Cambodia announced the implementation of two new agricultural development policies: the establishment of coordination and financing mechanisms to stabilize agricultural products**; Dispatch agricultural technology to towns and villages in key agricultural provinces to promote agricultural modernization pilots. At the same time, the import of agricultural land, family farmland and agricultural equipment will continue to be tax-free, and tax incentives will be implemented for domestic production enterprises of 14 categories of agricultural products such as rice until the end of 2025.
In the process of promoting agricultural modernization, Cambodia is still facing problems such as high production costs, insufficient production facilities and technology. Dundina said that in order to meet these challenges, it will continue to uphold the two important principles of ensuring food security and promoting sustainable agriculture.