Agriculture sector significantly contributing to Cambodia’s development goal

Agriculture sector significantly contributing to Cambodia’s development goal

Prime Minister Hun Sen has spoken highly of the agriculture sector, noting its key contribution to realising the country’s goal of becoming an upper middle-income economy by 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.

While presiding over the closing ceremony of the annual meeting to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Hun Sen said that the Royal Government had set forth policies and strategies to develop the agricultural sector into a modern and competitive sector to support the national economic growth, improve the farmers’ livelihoods, and contribute to achieving the upper middle-income status by 2030 and the high-income status by 2050.

Agriculture is a priority sector that ensures food security, nutrition and exports, the Premier underlined. To boost more productivity and competitiveness, Hun Sen stressed the need for more investment on supportive physical infrastructure, irrigation system, transport and logistics, agricultural credit, research and development of new seeds, dissemination of modern agricultural techniques, and so on.

The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation of the achievements in the agriculture sector, pointing out that last year, the total paddy rice yield reached more than 12.2 million tonnes, up 11.6 percent compared to 2020.

The use of agricultural machinery rose to 99.42 percent, while the paddy rice surplus was more than 6.94 million tonnes or 4.44 million tonnes of milled rice.

Over 4.36 million tonnes of horticultural crops and more than 19 million tonnes of industrial crops were harvested in 2021, while the animal production saw a year-on-year increase of 11.2 percent and could ensure 87 percent of meat supply, he added.

The total agricultural exports were valued at about $5 billion last year, up 25 percent compared to 2020, he said.

Major Cambodia’s exported agricultural products are rice, paddy rice, rubber, cassava, vegetables and fruits, etc. Heng Panha – AKP/Khmer Times