Agriculture minister Dith Tina met with Moonjung Choi, director of KOICA, in Phnom Penh. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
PHNOM PENH (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) have announced their continuing cooperation to implement joint projects that will promote the agricultural sector and benefit farmers.
Agriculture minister Dith Tina met with KOICA country director Choi Moon-jung on October 26 at the ministry headquarters in Phnom Penh, according to a ministry social media post.
“Both sides discussed their ongoing cooperation, and examined effective monitoring and sustainable project implementation,” it said.
Tina welcomed the cooperation, saying Cambodia will continue to work closely with the agency in order to support the Kingdom’s agricultural sector, in line with the government’s policy of ensuring food security and economic efficiency. They will employ new models to promote agricultural communities.
He added that the new policy will see the deployment of agricultural officials to communes across the country to help farmers with production chains.
“We are promoting agricultural communities, as they have enough capital and resources to conduct large-scale farming and can arrange contracts with investors.
In addition, we have a national laboratory capable of controlling the quality of agricultural production, to guarantee the safety of consumers,” he said.
He explained that the policy aims to reduce production costs, so farmers see higher profits. Some tasks, such as smart irrigation systems, require joint cooperation, as does the management of agricultural land.
The minister advised the Korean side to examine the possibility of cooperating with the University of Agriculture (RUA) to conduct further research into modern farming techniques.
Ministry secretary of state Yang Saing Koma previously explained that the deployment of agricultural officials is crucial to supporting farming households and the agricultural sector as a whole.
“We will assign the officials according to their areas of expertise, with rice specialists posted in rice growing areas, and so on,” he said.
In addition, the ministry will continue to encourage the development of farmers’ associations, as this will allow for collective contracts, which will eliminate the price fluctuations which can occur when wholesale traders manipulate the markets. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
