Cambodia – Scaling

Funder: Ministry of Agriculture, Taiwan

Duration: 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2024

Project location: Cambodia

Project partner: General Directorate of Agriculture, Cambodia

Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute

Project manager: Srinivasan Ramasamy

Background

Vegetable production in Cambodia only supplies 38.1 kg/capita/year therefore a large quantity of vegetable has to be imported from neighboring countries. However, the quality of imported vegetables is not always good as a result of unrefrigerated transport over large distances and contamination with pesticide residues and pathogens. Food safety risks discourage the consumers to buy or consume more vegetables leading to malnutrition. Many Cambodians are interested in buying locally grown produce from farmers they can trust. The cropping period in Cambodia is divided into three seasons: summer (May-July), wet season (August-October), and winter (November-February). Vegetable production is concentrated in winter when vegetable prices are low. Vegetable consumption declines significantly during the dry season. It has become imperative to increase sustainable vegetable production year-round in Cambodia.

Objectives

The project aims to make vegetables more available, affordable and accessible by enabling Cambodian smallholder farmers in Kandal, Kampong Cham and Prey Veng provinces in increasing year-round production of safe vegetables. Led by WorldVeg in collaboration with Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute and Cambodia General Directorate of Agriculture, the project will: (i) identify and introduce new bio-control agents and bio-pesticide products from Taiwan; (ii) introduce, pilot and scale off-season vegetable production technologies including protected cultivation, tomato grafting and water management techniques; (iii) facilitate the commercialization of technological innovations that are unavailable in Cambodia through public-private partnerships involving stakeholders in Taiwan and Cambodia; (iv) pilot and scale out post-harvest technologies along the vegetable value chains; (v) build capacity of scaling partners on vegetable production and post-harvest technologies, and network with ongoing projects / programs to build synergies.

Expected results

(1) Safe and off-season vegetable production technologies piloted and scaled out,

(2) Safe and off-season vegetables made available widely, and

(3) Built capacity & enabling environment to strengthen safe and off-season vegetable production in Cambodia.