Agriculture & Food

China attaches great importance to food security and has made important contributions to ensuring world food security. China not only brings market opportunities to Cambodia's agricultural development, but also technical support.

China's agricultural development has made important achievements. The grain output has remained high for many years, and the level of agricultural technology has been continuously improved. As a close neighbor of China, Cambodia attaches great importance to agricultural cooperation with China, hoping to promote its own agricultural development.

Thanks to the close connection with the Chinese market, Cambodian agriculture has grown against the trend in recent years. In May 2019, bananas became the first Cambodian fresh fruit approved for export to China, bringing huge market opportunities to the Cambodian banana planting industry. In 2021, Cambodia will export 420,000 tons of bananas, a year-on-year increase of 27.02%, of which more than 370,000 tons will be exported to China. In May last year, mangoes became the second fresh Cambodian fruit that can be directly exported to China. China is also the largest export market for Cambodian rice, with rice exports to China increasing by 7% year-on-year in 2021. The market incentive effect created by the international trade of agricultural products with China will help Cambodian agriculture to increase its production capacity and scale.

China brings not only market opportunities but also technical support to Cambodia's agricultural development. I have worked in the Royal Agricultural University of Cambodia for 18 years, doing scientific research on the campus and visiting the fields. The biggest feeling is that the technical guidance the farmers receive is far from enough. China (Hainan)-Cambodia Tropical Agricultural Technology Training Course Banana standardized production technology training courses have been held for 5 sessions, and more than 300 Cambodian students have successfully graduated. Today, most of these trainees have grown into professional and technical personnel, serving all over Cambodia. The Banana Tissue Culture Center jointly established by the Royal Agricultural University of Cambodia, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture has become the seed industry base of the local banana industry, accumulatively providing banana planting companies in Kratie, Kampong Cham, Stung Treng and other provinces in Cambodia. Supply more than 1 million tissue culture seedlings. At present, the technical bottlenecks faced by Cambodia's agricultural development are still relatively obvious, and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables is seriously troubled by pests and diseases. We look forward to strengthening communication with Chinese agricultural technicians, speeding up the introduction of Chinese technology, learning from Chinese experience, and helping Cambodian agricultural practitioners obtain more benefits.

At present, the global food security problem is becoming more prominent, and the international community urgently needs to strengthen relevant cooperation. China attaches great importance to food security and has made important contributions to ensuring world food security. In September 2021, when President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the general debate of the 76th United Nations General Assembly, he proposed a global development initiative, taking food security as one of the eight key areas of cooperation. China's pragmatic actions will help promote countries to pay more attention to food security cooperation and provide more timely assistance to countries facing food security challenges.

Cambodia and China have a long-standing traditional friendship, with close ties between the governments and the people of the two countries. As an agricultural worker, I very much hope that the Cambodia-China agricultural cooperation will be further improved and promote the continuous development of Cambodian agriculture.