In collaboration with the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) and the Horticulture Innovation Lab Regional Center at Kasetsart University, AVRDC organized a training course entitled “Postharvest Technology and Marketing Systems for Small-scale Farmers” from 10-14 March 2014 at the RUA campus in Chamkardaung, Dangkor District, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Twenty-five extension staff and officers from various non-government organizations and government agencies participated.

Borarin Buntong, professor of the Faculty of Agro-Industry of RUA (and an alumnus of AVRDC’s International Vegetable Training Course #31) facilitated the training together with Sheila de Lima, AVRDC Admin and Training Officer. Kong Thong, Dean of the Faculty of Agro-Industry of RUA opened the course and welcomed all the participants. Experts from Thailand and Cambodia delivered lectures and practical exercises on postharvest principles and technology options (Apita Bunsiri, Postharvest Specialist, Kasetsart University); status of postharvest systems in Cambodia (Borarin Buntong); introduction to trade facilitation and findings from a business process analysis study for Cambodia (Khan Salehin, Trade and Investment Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

[UN-ESCAP]); and marketing systems for small-scale farmers (Analiza Miso, AVRDC Ph.D. scholar at the Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University). A field visit to a private organic vegetable production and marketing company and the Neak Meas fresh vegetable market in Phnom Penh provided the participants with an opportunity to better understand the vegetable value chain from the perspective of small-scale farmers. The participants developed action plans to engage pre-identified small-scale farming communities in the value chain by encouraging them to minimize losses, add value, and create links to markets. The action plans also included the integration of postharvest techniques in future extension activities.

The training course was the first of three to be held in Cambodia as part of the “Network for Knowledge Transfer on Sustainable Agricultural Technologies and Improved Market Linkages in South and Southeast Asia (SATNET Asia),” a project funded by the European Union. AVRDC is responsible for facilitating capacity building activities on sustainable agricultural technology options for Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar, the project’s target countries in Southeast Asia.