New agriculture policies announced, $100M loans
PRIME Minister Hun Manet officially launched the government’s 5th and 6th Priority Policy Programmes to boost the agriculture sector on November 20. The government has released $100 million in loans for the sector.
The programmes are part of the newly launched Phase One of the Pentagonal Strategy. The two priorities focus on agricultural production, market expansion, maintaining the balance of agricultural costs and prices and the stationing of agriculture officials in several target communes, as well as the modernisation of agricultural communities.
“The political programmes of the fifth and sixth priorities aim to further boost and unlock the full potential of our agriculture sector. Far from leaving agricultural land lying idle, we introduced these policies to strengthen and capitalise on the potential to increase the yields of our farmers,” said Manet.
He added that the market for agricultural products is no different from other markets. It is extremely competitive, so agricultural techniques need to be constantly updated to increase productivity, reduce costs and ensure that market demands are met.
“When it comes to agriculture, we always talk about the balance between consumers and producers. This balance is what the government has to get right, in order to ensure more benefits for farmers and keep prices stable on the market.
We must consider the positions of producers and consumers,” he continued.
The prime minister added that in a wider geopolitical context, although the world economy is difficult to predict, Cambodia cannot give up or ignore the development of agriculture, which serves as its “rice pot”. Just as it seeks to modernise the industrial
sector from labourintensive industries to technical skills-based ones, the government has the same obligation to modernise traditional labour-based agriculture to technical skillsbased agriculture.
Ministry support
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Dith Tina
explained at the launch ceremony that keeping agricultural prices stable was one of the main priorities of the agriculture ministry. The ministry intended to help farmers by intervening in markets in a timely manner, in order to help them curb a flood in supply which could lead to farmers experiencing drastic price falls a short time period.
He added that this year, the ministry – in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Economy and Finance – will hold exams in the second week of December to select 250 agricultural officials who will be deployed to communes in 17 provinces.
institutions to assure farmers and the private sector that it would stamp out any activities that hindered fair competition.
Pa Chanroeun, president of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy (CID), described the prime minister’s remarks as correct. As a democratic country which has adopted a free market economy, in general the government does not interfere in business affairs or transactions. However, the state can intervene when necessary, to maintain balance and protect the national interests.
“The state intervenes when necessary. Obviously, when the rice harvest season comes, farmers hardly find markets because brokers manipulate market prices, and state intervention is inevitable. The state needs to coordinate and enact policies which ensure prices are sustainable for farmers,” he said.
He suggested that the government increase its attention to monitoring the economy, in order to spot vulnerabilities or loopholes in any sector. In this way, the state could take action if it became necessary.