Tina calls for Japanese water management aid

MINISTER of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Dith Tina has requested that the Japanese government examine the possibility of supporting water management for dry-season agriculture. The ministry is currently distributing organic fertiliser, vegetable seeds and mesh greenhouses to agricultural communities across the Kingdom.

Tina met with a Japanese delegation at the ministry headquarters on January 18 to discuss the work.

During the meeting, the minister noted Japan’s excellent past cooperation with Cambodia, especially in the field of agriculture, saying it has made significant contributions to the Kingdom’s growth.

“We need to conduct realistic, scientific studies of measures we can introduce to reduce farmers’ production costs, thus helping them to earn higher profits,” he said.

He suggested that Japan consider the possibility of supporting water management infrastructure, so that farmers can grow crops throughout the year. He requested that the Japanese side consider deploying solar systems that save farmers’ energy costs while also promoting environmental efficiency.

Tina also briefed the Japanese delegation on the fifth and sixth of the government’s six key priority programmes, noting that they are intended to promote the agricultural sector while keeping prices stable, through the establishment of modern agricultural communities that will be able to identify challenges and respond to them.

Separately on January 19, ministry secretary of state Yang Saing Koma led a team which distributed organic fertiliser, vegetable seeds and mesh greenhouses to agricultural communities through the Takeo provincial agriculture department.

The items were handed over under the project “Improving food security, nutritious foods and livelihoods of poor farmers.” The handover ceremony was co-organised by the NGO Helen Keller International (Cambodia) and the provincial agriculture department, with the support of the Multi-sectoral Food and Nutrition Security Project (MUSEFO) of German international development agency GIZ.

A total of 1,600 farming households received the donations.

During the ceremony, Saing Koma advised them to increase vegetable cultivation and to store rice to provide food security for their families.

He explained the fifth and sixth priorities of the government’s six key priority programmes to the recipients, saying that the programmes aim to keep agricultural product prices stable and that agricultural officials will be assigned to each commune, in order to organise modern agricultural communities.

Several of the commune agriculture officials who passed their recent recruitment exam attended the ceremony, as part of the first stages of communication between the officials and the farming households. The farmers were happy to support the officials, who will begin organising modern agricultural communities, with an initial focus on rice production.