IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Research article
erd

Present Status of Agriculture and Possibility for Increased
Export of Food and Agricultural Products in Cambodia
KEISHIRO ITAGAKITokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japank-ita@nodai.ac.jp
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract This paper aims to discuss the possibility of increased export of food andagricultural products on the basis of collected data sources and interviewing for the policy
makers and to build up the good relationship through Japanese investor to promoteagricultural export in Cambodia. Government announced the exportable agriculturalproducts with high potentials such as rice, maize, soybean, mung bean, sesame, peats,cassava, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber, fish products and cattle/buffalos. As far as
government announcement is concerned, the direction for export expansion should be put
already traded items in terms of amount bases. Even in already traded items, they should
be developed with higher added value.
Keywords agricultural production, agricultural marketing, agricultural policy, export,
foreign direct investment, public private partnership (PPP)INTRODUCTION
Cambodia is an agriculture-based country with food self sufficiency centering on rice as staple food.
Accordingly, her emphasis should be to put the stable fulfillment of domestic supply copied with
the increased food demand on agricultural policy. In reality, however, a part of food andagricultural products is substantially dependent on the import; nevertheless it is possible to produce
them domestically.
Towards the direction on agricultural policy, an import substitution by means of the increased
and diversified local production should be implemented in accordance with the shift of demand forfood and agricultural products while the increased export of food and agricultural products withadvantageous competitiveness should be promoted, taking a careful look for international market.
Therefore, better understanding of the agriculture sector with possible accuracy will benecessary for clarifying the faced problem. Based on such understanding, an adequate strategy andpolitical approach in solving the problem should be established, taking bilateral governmental
cooperation and foreign private investment in Cambodia and Japan into consideration.
This paper aims to discuss the possibility of increased export of food and agricultural productson the basis of collected data sources and interviewing for the policy makers and to build up thegood relationship through Japanese investor in order to promote agricultural export in Cambodia.
PRESENT STATUS AND PROBLEMS
Agriculture at the macro level
According to the statistics shown in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ofCambodia (MAFF in Cambodia, 2009, GDP share of agricultural sector for total GDP has fallen
down substantially from 44.8% in 1998 to 34.4% in 2008 (29.7% in 2007). On the one hand, grossvalue added in agriculture has increased by 52.2% during 1996 to 2008 at the nominal growth rate.
In the composition rate of gross value added shown by industry of agricultural sector in 2008,crops was 52.7%, 25.0% in fisheries, 15.5% in livestock & poultry, 6.8% in forestry & logging. In© ISERD86

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

the composition rate by annual crops in 2006, rice was 54%, 8% in vegetables, 5% in maize, 5% incassava, 3% in soybean and by industrial crops rubber was 5%, 3% in cigarettes, 8% in other cashcrops (JAICAF, 2009). In addition, 80% of total population is living in rural area, and most ofpopulation engaging in farming.
Trend of rice production
Agriculture is still the predominant sector in economic activity, and rice is especially andoverwhelmingly positioned at the center of crops. Table 1 shows the trend of planted area, yieldand production of rice for the period of 9 years from 2000 to 2008.
Table 1 Trend of rice production, planted areas and average yield in Cambodia, 2000-2008
Year2000
2001
20022003200420052006
2007
2008

Production (1000Mt)
4026.14099.03822.54711.04170.35986.26264.16727.17175.5

Planted area (1000ha)
2318.52240.92137.12314.22374.22443.52541.42585.92615.7

Average yield (Mt/ha)
2.12
2.07
1.92
2.10
1.98
2.48
2.49
2.62
2.75

Source: Bunthan NGO (2009) “Appropriate compost application as sustainable farming practices in Cambodia”(Doctorate Thesis not published). Original data was cited from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries(MAFF) (2008) “Report on agriculture in 2007 and direction of 2008-2009” (Khmer version)

As shown in Table 1, rice production increased from 4.03 million tons in 2000 to 7.18 million
tons in 2008. Planted area increased from 2.32 million hectares to 2.62 million hectares while
production per hectare increased from 2.1 tons to 2.7 tons. Accordingly, an increase of riceproduction for this period was contributed by the growth of yield more than planted area.
Nevertheless, average rice production per hectare is far from 5.0 tons in Vietnam and 3.0 tons inThailand in 2007 (FAOSTAT). Since rice planting takes place during both rainy and dry seasons,rice production in the rainy season is the mainstream with a share of 80% (Bunthan, 2009).
Average rice production per hectare is higher in the dry season with 3.93 tons than in the rainyseason with 2.49 tons in 2006 (JAICAF, 2009).
Even though rice production has substantially increased from 2000 to 2008, it was notnecessarily uptrend consistently. In particular, rice production in 2002 and 2004 decreased greatlycompared to the previous year due to the occurrence of serious flood during the rainy season(JAICAF, 2009). Generally speaking, rice production is significantly dependent on weathercondition. Since attaining rice self-sufficiency in 1996, the surplus of rice has sustainably beenexported. MAFF of Cambodia mentioned that a part of fragrant rice with high quality enabled toexport at the higher price in the international rice market.
Trend of other crops’ production
Table 2 shows the production trend of the other main crops consisting of maize, cassava, sugarcaneand soybean from 2000 to 2007. As shown in Table 2, production of each crop has been uptrend forthis period, showing heavy fluctuation year by year. Such fluctuation of each crop production wascaused by the serious problems as mentioned below.

© ISERD

87

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Table 2 Trend of main crop production (excluded rice) in Cambodia (unit: 1000Mt)
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007

Maize
157
186
149
315
257
248
377
380

Cassava
148
142
122
331
362
536
218
200

Sugarcane
164
169
209
173
130
118
142
170

Soybean
28
25
38
63
110
179
98
117

Source: FAOSTATProblems on agricultural production
MAFF of Cambodia revealed the constraints on agricultural production as follows (JAICAF, 2009).
· Inadequate rural infrastructures: roads, irrigation systems, rural markets, etc.
· Limited technological changes at community level as well as farmers and producers,
agricultural research and extension are still inadequate.
· Limited access to credits and micro-finances in the rural areas.
· Limited investment capacity or interest in investing in agriculture.
· Variable climatic condition and water resources.
· Limited access to agriculture inputs: fertilizers (chemical organic), pesticides, machineries,
improved seeds, etc.
· Weak agri-business and agro-enterprises.
· Export constraints due to technical barriers (Quality standard, quality control, qualitycertifications).
Present status and problems in agricultural marketing
Agricultural marketing system in Cambodia is complicated and diversified. The present status ofagricultural marketing will be clarified from the result of interviewing concerned persons. In depth
interviewing survey was conducted for local trader handling mainly some kinds of vegetable inPhnom Penh. The trader is establishing the system in selling vegetable to restaurant andsupermarket and at the same time provides the farmer with agricultural inputs like seed andfinancial support. The trader instructs vegetable growing technology for the farmer and finallypurchases vegetable from the farmer on a contract basis. As a result of interviewing the trader,some serious problems were clarified as follows. (1) Hard to collect vegetable due to insufficient
farmer’s group; (2) Selling vegetable to other traders or buyers without contract basis; (3) Difficult
for the farmer to learn the growing technology because the farmer does not come to the trainingclass over in-service training; (4) Depressed local price due to inflow of Vietnamese vegetable atthe lower price. According to the information from the trader, in case of assuming the existence of
local market demand it is difficult to collect the quality-controlled vegetable through the formalroute and carry stable supply to the local wholesale market; and consequently the shortened supplyof vegetable is set off by Vietnamese vegetable.
Basic marketing channel of vegetable is described as follows: Harvesting vegetable at farm →Collecting vegetable in the production area → Transporting vegetable from the production area →Transacting at the wholesale market → Transacting at the retailed market → Consumer purchasing.
Since there are other specific channels like the contract farming system between trader and farmer
mentioned above, the marketing system is multi-dimensional and not transparent. In addition, sincevegetable is not clearly classified by kind, size, shape, maturity, freshness and appearance based on
any regulation and criteria, a process in pricing is unclear. Furthermore, it is unclear which part of© ISERD

88

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

the vegetable is used for consumer and for food processing industry as well as how vegetable istransacted and what pricing mechanism is working.
Under such incompleteness of the marketing system, it is impossible to say that a transactionof vegetable is carried out properly between farmer and consumer or trader and food processing
industry. Based on the lack of storage facility, hardness of collecting the market information andinaccurate data due to the incompleteness of marketing system, a market price of vegetable isinclined to fluctuate significantly. A speculation is easily occurring with price fluctuation. The
incompleteness of the marketing system is applicable to other agricultural products as well. It will
be against the sound development of agriculture and food processing industry.
Some trader interviewed mentioned equal word that transportation cost was extremely high.
The higher transportation cost is attributed to high petrol price, no good road condition and vehicles.
The higher transportation cost is brought about by the higher marketing cost, which is becoming to
be one of the important hazards in transporting agricultural products smoothly.
Possibility for increased export of food and agricultural products
Cambodia is exporting various food and agricultural products. Table 3 shows the trend of exported
principal agricultural products from 2000 to 2007. Though natural rubber and cigarettes are
mainstream of exported agricultural produce, they are materials for industrial use, not for edible
food. Edible food for export is maize, soybean and rice though export trend is largely fluctuating
within a year.
Table 3 Trend of export value of main agricultural products in Cambodia (unit: 1000Mt)
Natural rubber
Cigarettes
Maize
SoybeanPalm oilRice

2000
6258
1838
94

2001
18447
2216
2386

2002
28258
650
1691

2003
33402
885
62437639

2004
36933
1143
3713
3442
797
1889

2005
8304
11017
1600
6486
1113
744

2006
18142
25241
2461
4405
1754
2440

2007
25877
22650
6177
6104
1635
1357

Note: 1. Order of commodity is based on 2007; 2. Cigarettes excluded tobacco. Rice in 2000 consists of rice milled,
rice broken, rice husked and rice paddy
Source: FAOSTAT

Apart from these export items, in 2007 other exports were as follows - salted cattle(FAOSTAT, same data in below, 850,000US$), cassava starch (619,000US$, cashew nuts (withshell and shelled) (598,000US$), garlic (516,000US$), chillies and peppers, dry (297,000US$),sesame seed (148,000US$), spices (143,000US$), dried Beans (106,000US$), pastry (94,000US$).
However, in reality it should be noted that active transaction in nearby borders with Thailand andVietnam may be conducted illegally though it is never shown on statistics.
Government announced the exportable agricultural products with high potentials such as rice,maize, soybean, mung bean, sesame, peanuts, cassava, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber, fish products
and cattle/buffalos. Even in already traded items, they should be developed with higher added value.
For instance, the export of fragrant rice should be greatly increased (10,000 ton was exported toUnited States, Hong Kong and EU at this moment). Organic vegetable and fruits have highpotentials as exportable items. In Cambodia any technology and know-how for food processing issignificantly constrained. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Cambodia isexpecting with great pleasure that foreign investors are able to work jointly with localmanufacturers. The Ministry of Commerce indicated that development of higher value addedcassava with help of foreign investors would be promising direction for export promotion in thefuture.

© ISERD

89

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
An effective strategy in developing agriculture can be described in three ways. (1) To strengthen
domestic food supply chain in response to the demand change of food and agricultural products; (2)To combine effectively among the different industries such as the sector linkage between
agriculture and tourism; (3) To enhance international competitiveness of food and agriculturalproducts with higher export potentials. These three different kinds of agricultural development
strategy are called “Demand pulled approach”. Among these strategies, export oriented strategy islikely to have most effectiveness on accelerating the process of agricultural development bytransferring the dynamism for agricultural development from external origin to the domestic
agriculture and food manufacturing industry. When Cambodia increases export with high value
added products to the developed countries, higher barriers like inspection, certification and quality
control for exportable product should be overcome in addition to stably providing it at therelatively lower price. If this seems to be hard, it will be impossible to increase export;. Cambodia
should have full knowledge of what, how many, at what price and with how quality can meet
export standard to the destination. Cambodia should predict change on the external conditions
along global trade liberalization. In this case, exportable products are requested to make a selection
with criteria in creating out job opportunity and incrementing income multiplied by the additional
supply increase. As for the criteria in making selection of exportable products, products should beselected along the lower cost, using local resources with rich-endowment. Producer and foodmanufacturer are needed to learn and apply the sophisticated technology to increment exportableproducts at the lower price. Trader and exporter are requested to handle and transport the products
efficiently. Among each actor playing role along food supply chain, precious information andhuman resources should be networked functionally. Each actor has to make an effort for capacity
building of human resources and at the same time fulfillment and arrangement of physicalinfrastructure and marketing system as well as law and institution building should be implemented
to promote export of food and agricultural products.
This, however, will be not easy to conduct only with own effort. Japan will be able to help bymeans of actively participating in the export promoting project for food and agricultural products
concerning the selection of exportable products, fulfillment of physical infrastructure, technology
transfer, financial support, capacity and institution building along the scheme of public and private
partnership in both countries. The increased export for food and agricultural products in Cambodia
will not only contribute to agricultural development, but also to ensure food security in Japan withstable supply of the imported food and agricultural products.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was arranged and funded by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization).

REFERENCES
Bunthan, N. (2009) Appropriate compost application as sustainable farming practices in Cambodia. Ph.D.
dissertation, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia.
FAO (2009) FAOSTAT (http://www. faostat.fao.org).
JAICAF (2009) Country paper on food security policy in ASEAN region and individual ASEAN memberstates (Country: Cambodia). The Seminar on Food Security Policy in ASEAN Region and Individual
ASEAN Member States,107-127.
Itagaki, K. (2009) Present status and some problems of agriculture and foreign direct investment foragriculture and food processing industry in Cambodia, JETRO SENSOR, 59, No.705, 64-67. (inJapanese)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Cambodia (2009) Agriculture development in CAMBO (nopublication). Cambodia.
Technical Working Group on Agriculture and Water (2006) Agriculture and water strategy (2006-2010)
Summary. 6-52.
© ISERD90