Tina welcomes FAO’s SPS cooperation
AGRICULTURE minister Dith Tina, during his meeting with a senior official from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), welcomed cooperation in the development of Cambodia’s agricultural sector, especially regarding the prevention and control of contaminants on products and the promotion of sanitation and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
Tina met with Jingyuan Xia, special adviser to the FAO director-general, on December 18 at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Phnom Penh.
During the meeting, Tina also shared the seventh-mandate government’s agricultural policy of creating modern farming communities and the initial deployment of 250 agricultural officials to selected communes. The roll-out of the 250 officials is the first stage of the plan. The agricultural specialists will support farmers with techniques, market development and will help them to meet other challenges in a timely and efficient manner in order to reduce costs, add value and maximise profits.
“The ministry needs partners who can provide lowinterest loans to help agricultural communities invest in real economic stability and sustainability on key crops such as rice, cashews and vegetables, as well as other products whose potential has been highlighted,” he said.
Regarding low-interest loans, Cashew nut Association of Cambodia (CAC) president Uon Silot said on December 19 that they are especially important for local farmers and cashew processing businesses, as 90 per cent of the Kingdom’s cashews are currently exported raw to Vietnam due to local investors’ lack of capital to stockpile for processing.
He noted that the association recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Small and Medium Enterprise Bank of
Cambodia (SME Bank) which would provide CAC members with capital via low-interest loans, 5.5 per cent, as opposed to a normal interest rate of 9 to 12 per cent per year.
“These preferential loans are very important for investors, enabling them to purchase cashews for stockpile, process and export them. The association has members who are both farmers and entrepreneurs. With the help of the government, especially in intervening to find partners who can lend at low interest rates, I think we will be able to achieve our goal of developing the cashew industry,” he said.
Pat Savoeun, community leader of O’Saray commune in Takeo province, explained that in the past the community had to apply for loans from commercial banks with high-interest rates, as obtaining a loan from the state-owned Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) requires a lot of documents and collateral. The community is not yet able to meet these requirements.
“Lack of capital is a major problem for the community, especially during the harvest season when members need immediate working capital to pay for their costs. On the other hand, there are other issues, such as climate change and partner companies which do not comply with contracts, and the community itself still has some shortcomings,” he said.
The Manet administration has allocated a $100 million budget to strengthen the agricultural sector. This includes mechanisms to coordinate finance programmes aimed at propping up agricultural products, finding markets and stabilising agricultural prices at reasonable levels. To certain extent, it is also prepared to intervene and protect the market prices of key crops.