It's well past time that Cambodia increased vegetable production for the domestic market, so this will be a welcome initiative from the government. However, as always, words come easy and the proof will be in the implementation. The declared goal of halving vegetable imports in the next three years may be over-optimistic, but at least this is a move in the right direction. It is not sustainable for Cambodia to continue to rely on imported vegetables that can be grown here.

$200 mil a year veggie imports to be slashed

The government has designated eight provinces to start boosting vegetable production from this year in a move to curb the capital flow of an estimated $200 million per year on imports from neighboring countries, mainly Vietnam.

Vongsey Vissoth, secretary of state for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said recently that the country spends millions of dollars a year importing vegetables from neighboring countries.
He said the influx of chemically produced vegetables was harmful to local people and required the ministry to set a new strategy.
Mr. Vissoth said most imported vegetables were the exporting countries’ leftover stock so they could sell it at any price rather than throwing it away. He said Cambodia lacked a proper system of production, which made locally produced vegetables more expensive than imports.

“Now, it’s time for us to change our methods and build relations with wealthy farmers. Our development partners help poor farmers and now the government will help wealthy farmers who have the ability to work with us to grow vegetables,” he said.

Mr. Vissoth said the ministry will establish a large area close to markets and water resources that will enable farmers to produce high quality vegetables that are able to compete with imported ones.

“It will be a co-investment scheme in which 70 percent is borne by the farmer and 30 percent paid by the government,” he said.
The project, called Boosting Food Projection 2017-2019, has a government budget of some $20 million, of which about $10 million is for the production of vegetables and other crops.

“Now, we are preparing our internal strategy, which includes the work structure, staffing and policy drafts so that the project starts this year. We have three years for implementation,” he said.

Research conducted by CPS [Center for Policy Studies] shows that between 200 to 400 metric tons of vegetables are imported daily from neighboring countries. The research found that between $150 million and $250 million is spent annually on vegetable imports from Vietnam, Thailand and China.
“I think after implementing the project for three years, we will be able to supply at least 150 metric tons per day to the market, which means we can reduce imports by 50 percent,” he said. “For sure, we cannot totally curb imports because some vegetables require planting in cold weather and cannot be grown here.”
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34744/ ... e-slashed/

A good start would be to have all sprays and pesticides that are imported and sold in Cambodia, to have instructions on their use written in Khmer , and maybe also English.
How do uneducated village farmers know the strength of the sprays and the withholding period of the products they grow when the sprays are made in Vietnam or Thailand and the instructions are written in those language.

How do uneducated village farmers know the strength of the sprays and the withholding period of the products they grow when the sprays are made in Vietnam or Thailand and the instructions are written in those language

Judging from what I've seen in my village they only know more is better. I'm afraid that such plans will not help small landholders at all but lead to land grabbing. In its own perverse way the government believes more (for us) is better. So throw some poor people off their small holdings and set up a favored oknya in agro business.

Duncan wrote:A good start would be to have all sprays and pesticides that are imported and sold in Cambodia, to have instructions on their use written in Khmer , and maybe also English.
How do uneducated village farmers know the strength of the sprays and the withholding period of the products they grow when the sprays are made in Vietnam or Thailand and the instructions are written in those language.

What % of village farmers might be literate in any language. Not a scientific study but just a guesstimate in your opinion.

the strength of the USD will do more to advance this cause than any statements by the government.
irrigation is the biggest challenge to fulfilling the aim.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/scienc ... 108654.ece

Recent health reports indicate significant increase in diabetes in SEA.

About bloody time. It will probably turn out to be yet another disaster because of the patronage and corruption that infests every aspect of anything to do with Cambodia. Vegetables IMO are not something a government should need to intercept with really. It should perhaps develop a loan system to allow for the small productive farmers to grow more. Vegetables take only a few months to grow, and with the money going to the people who know how to grow them, it should increase the quality and availability in a short time. Somehow I just don't see that happening, as it hasn't happened so far.

A good start would be to have all sprays and pesticides that are imported and sold in Cambodia, to have instructions on their use written in Khmer , and maybe also English.
How do uneducated village farmers know the strength of the sprays and the withholding period of the products they grow when the sprays are made in Vietnam or Thailand and the instructions are written in those language.

Precisely. How about a government funded school of agriculture that supplies free scholarships?
Yes, I know - just don't turn up for class and pay for your diploma. I can''t see much working in Cambodia to tell the truth.

In Britain, it was the people that farmed who could read (the Scots) that developed the agricultural revolution. All those gentleman farmersin England , who had farmers farm for them, with their subscription to the Farmer's weekly, or whatever it was called, were absolutely hopeless when it came to the new techniques.

Username Taken wrote: The poor farmers will be paid chicken-feed for their produce, and the wealthy farmers will make the real profits.

My friend just got back from visiting his family's farm in the provinces. Says they get paid just 300 riel/kg for cucumbers.