Nine modern agricultural cooperatives from Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces are to receive about $13 million in capital support from Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The package includes more than $12 million in low-interest credit and nearly $1 million in grants.
Because of uncertainty surrounding the fighting in border provinces, agreements on capital support for rice farmers in the four provinces were signed together in Siem Reap on December 30. The ceremony was presided over by Khim Finan, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and director of the Cambodia Agricultural Sector Diversification Project (CASDP). The agreements, described in the report as the largest such package to date, will support more than 1,500 rice-growing households and over 15,000 hectares of land, as well as investment in production facilities and equipment such as warehouses, harvesters, tractors, water pumps and rice mills. Of the nine modern agricultural cooperatives, five are in Battambang, two in Kampong Thom, and one each in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey.
By: Nget Pisant
