Cambodia Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development Sector Assessment, Strategy, and Road Map

By Asian Development Bank

This publication presents an assessment of Cambodia’s agriculture, natural resources, and rural development (ANRRD) sector and provides a strategy and road map for its future development. It identifies the strategic investment priorities of the Government of Cambodia where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) can contribute to ANRRD productivity, value addition, and resource efficiency. ADB support will focus on three key areas: (i) enhancing agricultural productivity through a whole-of-system water resources management approach, (ii) strengthening agricultural value chains, and (iii) improving natural resources management and disaster resilience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789292629526

Book preview

CAMBODIA AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT SECTOR ASSESSMENT, STRATEGY, AND ROAD MAP

JULY 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2021 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2021.

ISBN 978-92-9262-951-9 (print); 978-92-9262-952-6 (electronic); 978-92-9262-953-3 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS210256-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS210256-2

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Notes:

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On the cover: Enhancing sustainable agricultural productivity and strengthening agricultural value chains are among the key areas of support by ADB in Cambodia’s agriculture sector (photo by ADB).

Cover design by Josef Ilumin.

Contents

Tables and Figures

Abbreviations

Weights and Measures

Executive Summary

The sector assessment, strategy, and road map describe the performance and development constraints of Cambodia’s agriculture, natural resources, and rural development (ANRRD) sector in light of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the current strategic investment priorities of the Government of Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Sector Overview and Assessment

Cambodia became a lower middle-income economy in 2015, after sustaining an average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 7.6% from 1994 to 2015. In 2016–2019, total GDP grew by 7.1% annually and contracted by 3.1% in 2020 due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Garment exports, agriculture, tourism, and more recently construction and real estate have been the drivers of economic growth since 2000.

The share of agriculture value-added to the total GDP averaged around 30% during 2000−2014 and was estimated at 22.1% in 2019. Within the sector, crop production has the largest output contribution to total national GDP at 13.0%, followed by fisheries (5.5%), livestock (2.6%), and forestry (1.6%). However, the growth of agriculture value-added has been limited (0.85% annually, on average) since 2013 due to the long-term low labor productivity stemming from the preponderance of unprocessed rice production and the downturn in international commodity prices since 2014, as well as adverse weather conditions in 2015 and 2016.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the global food trade, COVID-19 has impacted both supply and demand sides, depending on the severity of the spread of the disease. During the pandemic, the Cambodian government has allowed the transport of goods nationwide, including agricultural inputs and products. As a result, prices have remained fairly stable for most key food commodities over the first 10 months of 2020, except for an initial spike in prices at the end of March 2020 and the beginning of April 2020. The impact of the pandemic is considered on the demand side, with many households suffering loss of livelihoods and income as a result of the pandemic, which in turn has restricted their ability to afford sufficient and nutritious foods. In response, the government launched a cash transfer program in June 2020 to provide support to vulnerable households, reaching around 696,000 poor households by October 2020.

Agriculture

Limited postharvest handling and processing. Only about 10% of Cambodia’s total agricultural outputs are processed within the country, whereas processed agricultural exports represent only 8% of total official exports by value. Other than rice milling (with its expanded capacity) and basic processing of rubber and pepper, the agro-processing sector is largely underdeveloped. Cambodia needs private investment in postharvest handling and processing if it is to capture economic opportunities arising from value addition to its agricultural products. Key constraints to increased agro-processing in Cambodia include the reliability and cost of electricity, informal payments for permits and documentation, lack of skills and information, difficulties in obtaining development capital, and access to technology and machinery.

Access to agricultural inputs and machinery. Modernizing agriculture and increasing labor productivity for farm production require quality agricultural inputs and mechanization. Cambodia has limited availability of improved seed varieties. Although the annual supply of quality rice seeds has been increasing, the