Cambodia, historically, has one of the best natural irrigation systems in the world, based on the Mekong and the Tonle Sap, with annual flooding. Like the Nile, this helped to produce a high civilization, but this irrigation system has since deteriorated, but can be restored. Although subject to extensive in recent times, now hopefully halted, Cambodia is still rich in forest resources, which need careful management in future. Poor road infrastructure and absence of any effective marketing system mean that small farmers have no ability to trade products profitably.
Individual farms are small, and there are no means to package or preserve products for sale.
This offers a lot of opportunity for opportunity for effective linkages between growers and marketers. Given the absence the absence of any linkages between producer, marketing and consumer, there are good opportunities for creation of supply chains, which can extend across borders to reach markets of Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. There is good potential for new product development. Illegal timber felling and forest depredation has drawn attention away from legitimate forest exploitation. Sustainable forestry might merit additional investment privileges, in view of additional investment costs and delayed return on investment.