Cambodia

The Australian aid program to Cambodia will concentrate activities in four key areas: rural development, health, infrastructure, and law and justice. ACIAR’s strategy is to support the rural development component in line with the Royal Government of Cambodia’s development priorities as outlined in the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006–2013. This plan brings together Cambodia’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets and the priorities of its national poverty reduction strategy.

Agriculture remains a significant part of the Cambodian economy, with about 80% of Cambodia’s population and most of its poor relying on agriculture for their livelihoods. The agriculture sector remains highly relevant to Cambodian economic growth. The Cambodian agricultural production environment is, in general, harsher than the fertile lowlands of other countries in the region. Soils are generally poor, often becoming waterlogged during the wet season, and three-quarters of the agriculture is rainfed. The predominance of rice-based farming systems on infertile, poorly structured soils means that Cambodia has rather low agricultural productivity on both a labour and a land area basis.

ACIAR’s program in Cambodia has three thrusts, all of which are in line with the Strategy for Agriculture and Water that has emerged from the NSDP. First, ACIAR supports research that aims to increase and secure the productivity of rice-based farming systems. This is important for both household food security and national and regional food production. Second, the strategy supports applied R&D that underpins agricultural diversification, particularly into non-rice field and horticultural crops and ruminant livestock. A third thrust recognises the vulnerability of Cambodian agriculture, particularly rainfed cropping, to climate variability and change. A new program of research will assist adaptation to climate change at the farm scale, developing capacity for more-efficient use of soil and water resources.

ACIAR also places emphasis on research to underpin the development of suitable supply chains through participation in the Cambodia Agricultural Value Chain (CAVAC) program. ACIAR is managing the research and extension component of this 5-year, $42 million program, which commenced in early 2009. CAVAC’s goal is to accelerate growth in the value of agricultural production and smallholder incomes in selected provinces (Kampong Thom, Takeo and Kampot) through improved productivity of rice-based farming systems. Under CAVAC the AusAID and ACIAR co-funded research and extension component:

• funds and manages programs of priority research ctivities that address constraints in selected value chains
• implements a farmer extension program among participating water-user and agribusiness groups
• enhances the capacity of extension providers to transfer improved technologies and information to farmers
• develops and implements a partnership program linking researchers, extensionists, farmers and agribusiness
• assists in sustaining the operational capacity of the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).

ACIAR-managed work integrates with other CAVAC components, addressing agribusiness development, water management and irrigation, and the furthering of a business-enabling environment.

The Cambodian Agricultural Research Fund (CARF), established in 2002 with AusAID and ACIAR co-funding, continues under CAVAC, providing Cambodian scientists with opportunities to identify research priorities, design demand-driven agricultural research projects, compete for agricultural research funds and lead the selected projects. ACIAR’s program has a focus on the southern provinces (Kampot, Takeo, Kandal, Prey Veng and Kampong Cham), two Tonle Sap provinces (Kampong Thom and Siem Reap) and two north-western provinces (Battambang and Pailin, mainly emphasising maize-based field crops). These provinces were selected on the basis of access to emerging domestic and international (Thailand, Vietnam) markets and as key production locations for the agreed priority crops and ruminant livestock.

Priorities for ACIAR–Cambodia cooperation are established through meetings between research program managers and executive staff at ACIAR and Cambodian agricultural R&D institutions, government departments and other organisations active in rural affairs. Effort is made to align the agreed priorities with the Strategy for Agriculture and Water 2010–2013.

Priorities for R&D cooperation—in production, protection, processing and marketing of field and horticultural crops—were discussed in February 2008 at a workshop in Phnom Penh jointly hosted by ACIAR and AusAID. It involved representatives of relevant national and provincial government ministries and agencies, universities, the private sector, NGOs and other donors. The full list of agreed priorities from the meetings is available at
and includes:

Securing productivity of rice-based farming systems:

Development and diversification of rice varieties for lowland environments:

• Use of improved varieties and robust production systems for direct-seeded rice
• Breeding and agronomy of rice varieties for irrigated dry-season production

Planting technologies and mechanisation of rice production:

• Direct seeding—soil, weed and water management, and mechanisation
• Synthesis of data on availability of soils, water resources, quality of groundwater, overall water supply and long-term climatic data to enable best-practice decision-making on selection of suitable sites and management of irrigation schemes
• Assessment of alternative business and institutional models for water-user groups
• Improvement in on-farm management of water in irrigated and rainfed systems, including in flood-recession rice systems

Soil and nutrient management:

• Implementation of new techniques to increase soil organic matter content and reduce surface erosion
• Assessment of the impact of long-term chemical and organic fertiliser use on rice yield, quality and soil properties
• Implementation of crop management practices such as stubble retention and reduced tillage to reduce water loss and maintain soil health

Income generation and better nutrition through agricultural diversification:

Non-rice field crops:

• Assessment of annual crops that support agroindustry, particularly maize, soybean
  and cassava
• Study of soil suitability for upland crop
  production, including soil classification
• Assessment of suitable environmental and soil conditions for reducing the risk of early wet-season soybean production before rice
• Introduction of agronomically adapted cassava varieties suitable for food and processing applications, including studies of land preparation and soil nutrient management
• Improvement in returns from field-crop marketing to value-chain participants
• Synthesis and dissemination of supply systems, regulations and standards for field- and horticultural-crop seed, and cropping inputs to meet requirements of markets and trading partners

Horticulture:
Priority crops for the domestic market include vegetables (leafy vegetables, chilli, crucifers, tomato), fruits (mango, papaya, rambutan, durian, banana) and black pepper, plus other potential new herb and spice products; for the export market, priority crops include chilli, black pepper and fruits (mango, papaya, rambutan and durian)

• Understanding domestic market needs and improving supply chains
• Development and dissemination of information on integrated crop production and postharvest management in selected vegetable crops
• Management of the economics of out-of-season vegetable production through protected cropping and containerised production systems
• Analysis of suitability of different soil types and on-farm water management, locations and systems
• Development of plant biosecurity, including biosecurity- and quarantine-related R&D, molecular identification of quarantine pests and technical capacity building

Ruminant livestock

• Reduction of negative impact of trans-boundary diseases, particularly FMD, by managing livestock movements
• Improvement in ruminant livestock health through integration of better nutrition, identification of diseases of importance to production, and treatments (including vaccination) for preventing and controlling key diseases
• Management of cattle and buffalo production through improvements in reproduction and year-round availability of feedstuffs in rice-based farming systems
• Development of market linkages for smallholder cattle and buffalo producers

Cambodian Agricultural Research Fund:

• Support for research and extension in areas of agricultural diversification through CARF

Helping Cambodian crop and livestock production systems respond to climate change:

Research to assess adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate variability and change

Assessment of on-farm crop modelling to develop crop rotations that are better matched to shifting rainfall regimes

Exploring the production of an additional crop in lowland rice-based cropping systems with better use of residual moisture, late-season rainfall or limited supplementary irrigation

Improving the capacity of poor communities dependent on aquatic resources in Laos and Cambodia to adapt to changing environmental conditions through fisheries and aquaculture.