Farmers weigh up US technology
US and Cambodian governments have presented a united front calling for the country’s agriculture industry to diversify, modernise and commercialise.
US ambassador William E Todd and the Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development Yim Chhay Ly led an industry conference at Phnom Penh’s InterContinental Hotel yesterday.
The conference – also attended by US-based agriculture giants John Deere, DuPont Pioneer and Valmont Irrigation – was aimed at bolstering trade between the two nations in the farming sector, however neither Chhay Ly nor Todd detailed how exactly the two would up their financial ties. ...
Chhay Ly said the government wants to modernise and replace Cambodia’s traditional farming methods such as ox-drawn ploughs, harvesting by hand and relying on rainfall to water the crops, by introducing US-style agro-machinery, hybrid seeds and chemicals. ...
It comes three months after Asia Development Bank loaned the Cambodian Government $70 million to “expand the country’s rice sector and promote reforms in the finance sector”. ...
The government’s “ambitious” goal adds further pressure to local farmers still recovering from floods, which affected more than 370,000 hectares of agricultural land and completely destroyed 130,000 hectares, according to Mam Amnot, Secretary of State of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. ...
Chan Muy Hong and Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/farmers-weigh-us-technology
