Agriculture sector contributes significantly to Cambodia’s development goal

Prime Minister Hun Sen praised the agriculture sector, noting its key contribution to achieving the country’s goal of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.

While presiding over the closing ceremony of the annual meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Hun Sen said that the royal government has laid down policies and strategies to develop the agricultural sector into a modern and competitive to support national economic growth. , improve farmers’ livelihoods and help achieve upper-middle-income country status by 2030 and high-income country status by 2050.

Agriculture is a priority sector that ensures food security, nutrition and exports, the Prime Minister stressed. To increase productivity and competitiveness, Hun Sen stressed the need for more investment in supporting physical infrastructure, irrigation system, transport and logistics, agricultural credit, research and development of new seeds, the dissemination of modern agricultural techniques, etc.

The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation of the achievements in the agricultural sector, pointing out that last year, the total yield of paddy rice reached over 12.2 million tons, up 11.6 percent from 2020.

The use of agricultural machinery rose to 99.42 percent, while the paddy rice surplus was over 6.94 million tonnes or 4.44 million tonnes of milled rice.

Over 4.36 million tonnes of horticultural crops and over 19 million tonnes of industrial crops were harvested in 2021, while animal production saw a year-on-year increase of 11.2% and could provide 87% of the meat supply, he added.

Total agricultural exports were valued at around $5 billion last year, up 25% from 2020, he said.

The main agricultural products exported by Cambodia are rice, paddy rice, rubber, cassava, vegetables and fruits, etc. Heng Panha – AKP