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Cambodia: Move to make smallholder markets bigger, better
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and local private company K.C.C.V Plantation Co Ltd have announced cooperation to develop a safety agricultural production chain and value in order to accelerate markets for smallholders.
The cooperation was made via a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry’s Accelerating Inclusive Markets for Smallholders (AIMS) project and K.C.C.V, according to the MOC.
The MoU will provide define more opportunities for joined-up activities and create strategy partners to solve the challenges in the context of online-based agri-business.
The Ministry’s Secretary of State, Pao Hengdara, who signed the MoU, said that to solve the challenges in the country’s vegetable production, the ministry has led the project by establishing safe vegetables local clusters in 18 provinces to connect producers to markets and facilitate public-private partnerships to promote productivity and profit.
“The MoU will increase more indepth cooperation between the AIMS project and supermarkets and to improve the value and safety of the agri-vegetables business production chain by supporting and connecting them to the markets,” he said According to Hengdara, AIMS is a joint project of the Royal Government of Cambodia and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
AIMS is a six year project, effective from 28 February 2017 with an expected completion date of 31 March 2023.
He said it intends to accelerate the inclusive growth of markets and for higher value agricultural products and the development of associated local clusters through which poorer smallholder producers can benefit alongside others.
The project will also provide the skills of technical farming, financial and business plans, irrigation management and marketing.
It is being implemented by the Ministry of Commerce, with various implementing partners and is expected to have total combined funding from the government and IFAD equivalent to approximately $45 million (IFAD’s loan is $36.3 million).
The project, which is being implemented in 18 provinces, will promote the value chain of five agricultural products such as vegetables, chicken-raising, growing rice and cassava and creating silk.
K.C.C.V Plantation Co Ltd, has currently established a supermarket in Phnom Penh to connect local clusters that are able to access the market directly. With this cooperation, more local vegetables will be available on the company’s supermarket shelves.
The Ministry of Agriculture has called on more investment in the horticulture and subsidiary crops sector because the demand for vegetables in the country has increased by nearly 1,000 tonnes per day.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50727797/move-to-make-smallholder-markets-bigger-better/